E L Mayo

Edward Leslie Mayo (1904–1979) was an American poet, English professor, and author. Born in Dorchester, Massachusetts, he attended schools in Malden, Massachusetts, before studying at Bates College and later the University of Minnesota, where he earned a B.A. magna cum laude in 1932 and an M.A. in 1936.

Mayo’s career included teaching positions at Phillips Academy, Drake University, the University of Minnesota, Macalester College, and Iowa Wesleyan College. He was awarded the Amy Lowell Poetry Traveling Scholarship in 1953, enabling him to teach and travel in England and Europe from 1953 to 1954. His students included notable poets Roger Weaver and Ben Howard.

Mayo’s work appeared in *Poetry* magazine, and he authored several poetry books, including *Summer Unbound, and Other Poems* (1958), *Collected Poems* (1982), and *The Diver: Poems* (1999). He also contributed to literary criticism.

In his personal life, Mayo married Myra Margaret Buchanan Morton in 1936 after they both won prizes in a poetry competition. They had four children and several grandchildren. Mayo died in 1979 from congestive heart failure, leaving behind his wife and family.

Awards throughout his career included the Payne Prize (1932), the Oscar Blumenthal Prize (1942), the Amy Lowell Poetry Traveling Scholarship (1953–54), and the 1982 American Book Award.