William Everson

William Everson (September 10, 1912- June 3, 1994), also known as Brother Antoninous, was a poet during the beat generation and was also an author and fine-press printer. He spent most of his life on the central Califonia coast near Santa Cruz.

Everson was an influential member of the San Francisco Renaissance in poetry and worked closely with Kenneth Rexroth during this period of his life. Throughout his life, Everson was a devotee of the work and lifestyle of poet Robinson Jeffers.

Everson took conscientious objector status when he was drafted during World War II and spent time in work camps in the Pacific Northwest. In the camp at Waldport, with other poets, artists and actors, he founded a fine arts program, in which interned draftees staged plays and poetry readings and learned the craft of fine printing. During his time as a conscientious objector, Everson completed The Residual Years, a volume of poems that launched him to national fame.

He took the name Brother Antoninous when he joined the Dominican Order in 1951. He left the order in 1969.

Recommended Reading

Gelpi, Albert. Dark God of Eros: A William Everson Reader. Berkeley, CA: Heyday. 2003.

External Links

• Everson Page on the University of Illinois' Modern American Poetry website