Paul Mariani (born 1940 in New York City) is an American poet and a professor at Boston College. He grew up on Long Island, the eldest of seven children. His published work includes biographies: on the confessional poets Robert Lowell (Lost Puritan) and John Berryman (Dream Song); on William Carlos Williams (A New World Naked, which was nominated for the American Book Award); and, most recently, on the poet Hart Crane (The Broken Tower). He has also published six books of poetry: Timing Devices, Crossing Cocytus, Prime Mover, Salvage Operations: New and Selected Poems, The Great Wheel, and Deaths & Transfigurations. His latest book is a biography of Gerard Manley Hopkins (2008).
He has been honored with fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the National Foundation for the Humanities.
He earned his bachelor's degree from Manhattan College, a Master's from Colgate University, and a Ph.D. from the City University of New York.