Vesterheim Photography & Prints-In Quest of Ourselves Poem by Joseph Langland Poster

A poem about Norwegian heritage by well-known Norwegian-American poet Joseph Langland.

Raised in Northeast Iowa on the family farm, Langland received both a bachelor’s degree (1940) and a master’s degree (1941) from the University of Iowa. He served in the U.S. Army as an infantryman during World War II. After the war, Langland taught part-time at the University of Iowa and then joined the faculty of University of Wyoming until 1959. He then moved to the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where he founded the MFA Program for Poets Writers. He was a faculty member at U-Mass from 1959-1979 and a professor emeritus from 1979 until his death in 2007 at the age of 90.

His work appeared in Massachusetts Review, Paris Review, The Nation, and The New Yorker.