Timothy Murphy Poetry Collection
Collection
Identifier: MSS 3137
Scope and Contents
The Timothy Murphy Poetry Collection contains poems and other materials realted to the life and work of Timothy Murphy. The collection is organized into three series: Publication Series, Unbound Poems Series, and a Mixed Writings Series.
The Unbound Poems Series consists of a mix of Murphy's works. Including loose leaf poems he gifted as well as work published in newspapers and other formats.
The Publication Series consists of works Timothy Murphy had published over his long career. This includes self-published works, publishing company books, as well as self-bound collections.
The Unbound Poems Series consists of a mix of Murphy's works. Including loose leaf poems he gifted as well as work published in newspapers and other formats.
Dates
- Majority of material found within 1990 - 2018
Access
The collection is open under the rules and regulations of the NDSU Archives.
Conditions Governing Use
The NDSU Archives owns the copyright to the files in this collection.
Biography
Timothy Murphy was born in Hibbing, Minnesota in 1951 and Murphy grew up in Moorhead. He attended Yale University where he began to build his reputation as a poet under the tutoring of Robert Penn Warren.
Warren, however, refused to give him a recommendation after Yale. Murphy was courting the East Coast literary world and aiming for a poet-in-residency at a prestigious academy. “I needed to cultivate the sense of place which I so fervently admired in Yeats, Hardy, and Frost, but which I had not yet found in the land of my own birth,” Murphy wrote in Set the Ploughshare Deep. “Go home, boy,” Warren had told him. “Buy a farm. Sink your toes in that rich soil and grow some roots.”
Taking the advice to heart, Warren took on various roles, becoming a partner in a large-scale hog farm and contributing to his family's insurance and estate planning business. But his passion was his poetry, much of it about his black Labrador retrievers and hunting birds in North Dakota and South Dakota.
In 1998, Murphy published his first work with "The Deed of Gift," the first in a series of collections that would define his unique voice. These volumes, including "Very Far North" (2002), "Mortal Stakes • Faint Thunder" (2011), and "Hunter's Log" (2011), showcased his ability to infuse rhyme and regular meter into verses that resonated with regular people.
A memoir, "Set the Ploughshare Deep: A Prairie Memoir" (2000), provided a glimpse into the autobiographical layers of Murphy's life. It chronicled his return to the Roman Catholic faith, a spiritual journey that intertwined with the challenges of battling personal demons and grappling with faith.
Murphy's poetry reached beyond the confines of literary circles, finding a place in esteemed publications such as Gray's Sporting Journal, Hudson Review, and New Criterion. Despite his deep connection to rural themes, he humorously acknowledged being better known in Edinburgh, Scotland, than in Edinburg, North Dakota, showcasing the global resonance of his work.
Murphy's commitment to traditional meter and rhyme, often overlooked in modern poetry, set him apart. His distinctive style, highlighted in "The Deed of Gift," drew praise from contemporaries such as Gerry Cambridge and Dick Davis, who admired his mastery of traditional forms.
Renowned poet Richard Wilbur, a Pulitzer Prize winner and former U.S. Poet Laureate, praised Murphy’s work. “Tim uses rhyme and meter in a songlike way––which a great many modern poets have forgotten how to do. Most poets nowadays are not lyric in that sense. Tim writes poems that a composer could set to music,” says Wilbur. Moreover, “his poetry is lucid. When he is subtle, it’s the kind of subtlety that leads you into understanding. He uses forms without showiness and always with a point.”
Timothy Murphy's life was a tapestry woven with threads of poetry, business ventures, spiritual introspection, and a deep-rooted connection to the land. Though he passed away in 2018, his poetry continues to inspire. It was in the Dakotas where he followed his mentor’s advice - he sank his toes into the earth and grew lasting roots here, creating a legacy of poetry in the Great Plains.
Warren, however, refused to give him a recommendation after Yale. Murphy was courting the East Coast literary world and aiming for a poet-in-residency at a prestigious academy. “I needed to cultivate the sense of place which I so fervently admired in Yeats, Hardy, and Frost, but which I had not yet found in the land of my own birth,” Murphy wrote in Set the Ploughshare Deep. “Go home, boy,” Warren had told him. “Buy a farm. Sink your toes in that rich soil and grow some roots.”
Taking the advice to heart, Warren took on various roles, becoming a partner in a large-scale hog farm and contributing to his family's insurance and estate planning business. But his passion was his poetry, much of it about his black Labrador retrievers and hunting birds in North Dakota and South Dakota.
In 1998, Murphy published his first work with "The Deed of Gift," the first in a series of collections that would define his unique voice. These volumes, including "Very Far North" (2002), "Mortal Stakes • Faint Thunder" (2011), and "Hunter's Log" (2011), showcased his ability to infuse rhyme and regular meter into verses that resonated with regular people.
A memoir, "Set the Ploughshare Deep: A Prairie Memoir" (2000), provided a glimpse into the autobiographical layers of Murphy's life. It chronicled his return to the Roman Catholic faith, a spiritual journey that intertwined with the challenges of battling personal demons and grappling with faith.
Murphy's poetry reached beyond the confines of literary circles, finding a place in esteemed publications such as Gray's Sporting Journal, Hudson Review, and New Criterion. Despite his deep connection to rural themes, he humorously acknowledged being better known in Edinburgh, Scotland, than in Edinburg, North Dakota, showcasing the global resonance of his work.
Murphy's commitment to traditional meter and rhyme, often overlooked in modern poetry, set him apart. His distinctive style, highlighted in "The Deed of Gift," drew praise from contemporaries such as Gerry Cambridge and Dick Davis, who admired his mastery of traditional forms.
Renowned poet Richard Wilbur, a Pulitzer Prize winner and former U.S. Poet Laureate, praised Murphy’s work. “Tim uses rhyme and meter in a songlike way––which a great many modern poets have forgotten how to do. Most poets nowadays are not lyric in that sense. Tim writes poems that a composer could set to music,” says Wilbur. Moreover, “his poetry is lucid. When he is subtle, it’s the kind of subtlety that leads you into understanding. He uses forms without showiness and always with a point.”
Timothy Murphy's life was a tapestry woven with threads of poetry, business ventures, spiritual introspection, and a deep-rooted connection to the land. Though he passed away in 2018, his poetry continues to inspire. It was in the Dakotas where he followed his mentor’s advice - he sank his toes into the earth and grew lasting roots here, creating a legacy of poetry in the Great Plains.
Extent
1 Linear Feet (A mix of published poetry books, journals, reviews, and correspondence related to the life and work of Timothy Murphy.)
Language of Materials
English
Overview
The Timothy Murphy Poetry Collection is organized into three series: Publication Series, Unbound Poems Series, and a Mixed Writings Series.
The Unbound Poems Series consists of a mix of Murphy's works. Including loose leaf poems he gifted as well as work published in newspapers and other formats.
The Publication Series consists of works Timothy Murphy had published over his long career. This includes self-published works, publishing company books, as well as self-bound collections.
The Unbound Poems Series consists of a mix of Murphy's works. Including loose leaf poems he gifted as well as work published in newspapers and other formats.
Provenance
The collection was donated to the NDSU Archives by James Murphy in August of 2022.
Separated Materials
3 images of Timothy Murphy are separated into Portrait Collection (P-334)
Property Rights
The NDSU Archives owns the property rights to this collection.
- Title
- Finding Aid to the Timothy Murphy Poetry Collection
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
Repository Details
Part of the Institute for Regional Studies Repository
Contact:
West Building N
3551 7th Avenue North
Fargo North Dakota 58102 United States
ndsu.archives@ndsu.edu
West Building N
3551 7th Avenue North
Fargo North Dakota 58102 United States
ndsu.archives@ndsu.edu