I didn’t know much about Stanley Kunitz until this morning. I came across a notice of his death (May 14, 2006) on Modestly Yours. I really liked this comment of his so I thought I would post it here for others to read. The pro-life message really comes through:
When you look back on a lifetime and think of what has been given to the world by your presence, your fugitive presence, inevitably you have to think of your art, whatever it may be, as the gift you have made to the world in acknowledgement of the gift you have been given, which is the life itself. And I think the world tends to forget that this is the ultimate significance of the body of work each artist produces. It is not an expression of the desire for praise or recognition, or prizes, but the deepest manifestation of your gratitude for the gift of life.
—Stanley Kunitz (1905-2006) from The Wild Braid, (W.W. Norton, 2005)
