Jon Beck Shank (1919–1977) was an American Mormon poet and a high school English teacher in New York City.
Biography Shank studied at Brigham Young University. While at BYU, Shank collaborated with Davis Bitton on a theatrical production.
Shank was a native of Pennsylvania and a convert to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.Leonard J. Arrington and Davis Bitton. The Mormon Experience. (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1979) p. 332 Shank died in 1977.
In 1945, Shank had a collection of his poems published by Alfred A. Knopf. He later taught high school English in New York City, . Among his students was Roger Rosenblatt, who later wrote an essay praising Mormon artists in which he admitted that this view was largely a result of his association with Shank."Three books on visual images in the history of the Church" by Davis Bitton, BYU Studies 36.4. Retrieved August 12, 2023.
Another of Shank's students was Anne Waldman, who has mentioned him being a scholar of the works of Wallace Stevens.Waldman's autiobiography
References
Sources Poetry, Vol. 66, no. 4 July 1945
External links
Davis Bitton. "Images of Faith: Art of the Latter-day Saints". in BYU Studies, Vol. 36, no. 3 Open Library listing for Shank