Jon Beck Shank

Who is Jon Beck Shank?

Jon Beck Shank was a Mormon poet and a high school English teacher in New York City. Shank studied at Brigham Young University. While at BYU Shank collaborated with Davis Bitton on a theatrical production.

Shank was a native of Pennsylvania and a convert to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

In 1945 Shank had a collection of his poems published by Alfred A. Knopf. He later taught high school English in New York City, among his students was Roger Rosenblatt, who later wrote an essay praising Mormon artists in which he admitted that this view was largely a result of his association with Shank.

Another of Shank's students was Anne Waldman who has mentioned him being a scholar of the works of Wallace Stevens.