Shapiro, Karl (Jay) (1913–2000)

US poet, writer, and critic. He is noted for the sparkling wit of his poetry and for his criticism of Ezra Pound and T S Eliot. His conception of the Jew as a prototype of the modern human informed his striking V Letter and Other Poems (1945; Pulitzer Prize) and Poems of a Jew (1958). Later volumes include Adult Bookstore (1976) and The Younger Son (1988).

Born in Baltimore, Maryland, Shapiro taught at many institutions, notably the University of California, Davis. From 1950–60, he edited literary periodicals. He also wrote a novel, and was liked with the critical movement New Criticism.