American poet known for her use of vivid sexual imagery in works such as The Complete Love Poems of May Swenson. She received numerous literary honors, including the Shelley Poetry Award, the Bollingen Prize, and the National Institute of Arts and Letters Award.
She grew up in a Mormon household and attended Utah State University.
She published poems in The New Yorker and The Paris Review.
She was the first of ten children born to Margaret and Dan Arthur Swenson.
Her poem "Question" was featured in Stephenie Meyer's novel The Host.
