John Frederick Nims

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John Frederick Nims (November 20, 1913 – January 13, 1999) was an American poet and professor. He was born in Muskegon, Michigan, and died in Chicago, Illinois, at age 85. He studied at DePaul University, earned an M.A. from the University of Notre Dame, and received a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in 1945. He wrote reviews of early works by Robert Lowell and W. S. Merwin. He taught English at Harvard University, the University of Florence, the University of Toronto, Williams College, the University of Missouri, and the University of Illinois at Chicago. He was editor of Poetry magazine from 1978 to 1984. The John Frederick Nims Memorial Prize for poetry translation is awarded by the Poetry Foundation.