MOSS, HOWARD

born Jan. 22, 1922, New York, N.Y., U.S. died Sept. 16, 1987, New York American poet and editor who was the poetry editor of The New Yorker magazine for almost 40 years. Moss graduated from the University of Wisconsin in 1943 and published the first of 12 volumes of poetry, The Wound and the Weather, in 1946. He joined the staff of The New Yorker in 1948, and throughout his tenure there he showcased the works and helped establish the careers of such poets as Sylvia Plath, Richard Wilbur, and Elizabeth Bishop. His own poetry exhibited a technical virtuosity and a lucid, compressed style that focused on the mysteries of the commonplace. Moss also published volumes of criticism and was an accomplished playwright. His plays include The Folding Green (1958), The Oedipus Mah-Jongg Scandal (1968), and The Palace at 4 A.M. (1972).