David Daniels "The Gates of Paradise" and "Years" Visual Poetry
SPEC.RARE.CMS.0112
Ohio State University Libraries Special Collections
1.33 Cubic feet
1992, 1999, 2001-2003
David Daniels was a visual poet from California. Between 1984 and 2008, he created three large sequences of work:
The Gates of Paradise,
Years, and
Humans. David Daniels "The Gates of Paradise" and "Years" Visual Poetry contains 10 large poster prints of poems from his work
The Gates of Paradise; printouts of seven of his poems from
The Gates of Paradise and
Years that show each edit and change from the first draft to the final version; and a printout of server statistics showing the number of page visits to Daniels'
The Gates of Paradise website. Materials are dated 1992, 1999, 2001-2003.
(8) oversize folders; (1) 2.5" letter document box; (1) card box
English
Daniels, David, 1933 October 11-
Arrangement of Materials
Materials are arranged chronologically by each project's original date of publication. Within each project, materials are arranged chronologically, with further arrangement alphabetically by poem title for materials sharing the same date.
Acquisitions Information
Accession No. RARE.2019.0019: David Daniels, 2003 July
Preferred Citation
[identification of item], David Daniels "The Gates of Paradise" and "Years" Visual Poetry, SPEC.RARE.CMS.0112, Rare Books and Manuscripts Library, Ohio State University
Access to Materials
Materials in this collection are available for use, but may be used in the Thompson Library Special Collections reading room only.
Use of Materials
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Processing Information
Processed by: Ashleigh Minor, 2019 January; finding aid written by: Ashleigh Minor, 2019 January.
Biographical Note
David Daniels (1933-2008) was a visual poet from Berkeley, California. He grew up in New Jersey, and studied art as a painter in Chicago from 1949-1953. In 1987, Daniels moved to Berkeley, California, where he remained until his death in 2008. In the 1980s, he was inspired to start experimenting with visual poetry when his son gifted him a book of "bad poetry." Although Daniels self-identified as a visual poet, much of his poetry can be considered concrete, or shape poetry, where letters and words are arranged on a page to form an image. Visual poetry typically integrates images into the text of the poem, and Daniels' work rarely makes use of this technique. Between 1984 and 2008, he created three large sequences of work:
The Gates of Paradise(2000),
Years(2002), and
Humans(2003).
The Gates of Paradise contains over 350 poems about people, their states of mind, and their struggles to find happiness. Daniels initially published this project on a website under the same name.
Years includes one autobiographical poem for each year of Daniels' life, up to 2002, when the project was completed. Daniel's final project,
Humans, is a sequence of 200 poems based on the lives, writings, and biographical details of 200 individuals. Daniels created all of his poetry using Microsoft Word.
Scope and Contents
David Daniels "The Gates of Paradise" and "Years" Visual Poetry contains 10 large poster prints of poems from his work
The Gates of Paradise, printed and signed in July 2003. Also included are printouts of seven of his poems, six from
The Gates of Paradise and one from
Years, that show each edit and change from the first draft to the final version, from 1992, 1999, and 2001-2003. A printout of server statistics showing the number of page visits to Daniels'
The Gates of Paradise website between March and July of 2003 is included in this collection as well.
Daniels, David, 1933 October 11-
Concrete poetry
Concrete poetry, American--California--20th century
Concrete poetry, American--California--21st century
Poets, American--California--20th century
Poets, American--California--21st century
Posters
Visual poetry
Visual poetry, American--California--20th century
Visual poetry, American--California--21st century
The Gates of Paradise: "The Unfair Lathe at the Top etc." edits and drafts
1
1
1992 July 31-October 13
The Gates of Paradise: "The Aziz Gate," "The Estrella Gate," "The Isabella Gate," and "The Gina Gate" edits and drafts
1
2
1999 October 30-November 9
The Gates of Paradise: Website server statistics
1
3
2003 March 31-July 15
The Gates of Paradise: "The Books Lost to Fire in the Library of Alexandria Revealed Gate" poster print
1
2003 July 14
The Gates of Paradise: "The Club Ha Ha Gate" poster print
2
2003 July 14
The Gates of Paradise: "The Heroic yet Deeply Penal Neo Art-Deco Transformation of a Top Notch Plastic Surgeon's Plastic Arts Challenged Trophy Wife into a Neo-Poussin Landscape Gate" poster print
3
2003 July 14
The Gates of Paradise: "The Light Gate" poster print
2
1
2003 July 14
The Gates of Paradise: "The Multi-Wing Multi-Being Multi-Sing Gate" poster print
4
2003 July 14
The Gates of Paradise: "The Paean to Various New Yorkers Pissing on the Sidewalk Gate" poster print
5
2003 July 14
The Gates of Paradise: "The Petit Eternal Return Gate" poster print
6
2003 July 14
The Gates of Paradise: "The Self-Portrait Gate" poster print
7
2003 July 14
The Gates of Paradise: "The Transformation of the Big Bozo into That Set of Stretch Goal Squeezed Mainstream Bozos Which When Push Comes to Shove Retain the Intestinal Fortitudes Needed to Trickle down into Formations of Emergent Solid Subsets of the Set of All Sets Which Are Not Members of Themselves Which May Not Be in the End a Valid Member of Itself yet Remains a Solid Member of Absolute Bozo Gate" poster print
2
2
2003 July 14
The Gates of Paradise: "The Turn Your Self Inside Out If You Want to See an Alien Gate" poster print
8
2003 July 14
Years: "1974, page 2" edits and drafts
1
4
2001 June 12-2003 February 14