ALLEN GROSSMAN, a profoundly influential poet, scholar, and teacher, joined Johns Hopkins University in 1991 as the Andrew W. Mellon Professor of the Humanities and taught until his retirement in 2006. Widely regarded as a “poet’s poet,” Grossman’s work bridged Romantic and Modernist traditions, combining intellectual rigor with lyrical beauty and a wry sense of humor. Over a distinguished career, he published 11 books of poetry, earned numerous honors—including a MacArthur Fellowship and the Bollingen Prize—and was elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Born in Minneapolis in 1932, Grossman began his academic journey at Harvard and earned his PhD from Brandeis, where he taught for over three decades before joining Johns Hopkins. At Hopkins, he was a beloved mentor whose teaching transformed generations of students. His legacy endures in the writers he influenced, the colleagues he inspired, and the lasting weight of his poetic voice.