Author. Dillon was born in Jacksonville, Florida, and moved to Covington, Kentucky at the age of five where he received his early education. He received his college education at the University of Chicago where he graduated in 1927 with a degree in English. It was at this university that he became interested in poetry and became a part of the school's poetry club. After college he became a writer, writing a diverse style including novels as well as poetry. In 1927 he published his first book of poems titled "Boy in the Wind," and in 1931 published his second set of poems called "Flowering Stone." This book of poems won for him the Pulitzer Prize for poetry as well as the Guggenheim Fellowship award. In 1937 he became editor of the "Poetry Magazine," and when World War II started he enlisted in the Army signal corps where he served until the end of the war. After the war he returned to his pre-war position as editor of the Poetry Magazine. Dillon was also known for his love affair with Edna St. Vincent Millay whom he met at the University of Chicago in 1928. With her he translated the many works of the poet Baudelaire, which they published in 1936 under the name "Flowers of Evil." He became Millay's inspiration for her fifty two sonnet sequence "Fatal Interview" which included sonnets about their affair.
Author. Dillon was born in Jacksonville, Florida, and moved to Covington, Kentucky at the age of five where he received his early education. He received his college education at the University of Chicago where he graduated in 1927 with a degree in English. It was at this university that he became interested in poetry and became a part of the school's poetry club. After college he became a writer, writing a diverse style including novels as well as poetry. In 1927 he published his first book of poems titled "Boy in the Wind," and in 1931 published his second set of poems called "Flowering Stone." This book of poems won for him the Pulitzer Prize for poetry as well as the Guggenheim Fellowship award. In 1937 he became editor of the "Poetry Magazine," and when World War II started he enlisted in the Army signal corps where he served until the end of the war. After the war he returned to his pre-war position as editor of the Poetry Magazine. Dillon was also known for his love affair with Edna St. Vincent Millay whom he met at the University of Chicago in 1928. With her he translated the many works of the poet Baudelaire, which they published in 1936 under the name "Flowers of Evil." He became Millay's inspiration for her fifty two sonnet sequence "Fatal Interview" which included sonnets about their affair.
Bio by: Saratoga
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