Everything Was Real Life

This article considers the life and work of poet Anne Porter (1911–2011). Special attention goes to how both her Catholic faith and pressures within her family life shaped her poetry. While bearing the brunt of caring for the five children she had with painter Fairfield Porter, Anne Porter quietly produced an impressive and lasting body of work. In the final decades of her life, she gained the artistic recognition that had long eluded her. Her 1994 collection An Altogether Different Language was a finalist for the National Book Award. In this essay the author notes distinguishing characteristics of Porter’s poetry (close attention to the natural world, a preference for clarity, and a religiously-informed concern with what is “real”) and examines how sexual-relational tensions, parenting struggles, and financial pressures both hindered and benefited her creative productivity. The article also considers how Porter’s embrace of the principle of hospitality and her commitment to her marriage informed her poetry.