Engle was a noted American poet, editor, teacher, literary critic, novelist, and playwright. He is perhaps best remembered as the long-time director of the Iowa Writers' Workshop. During his tenure (1941–1965), he was responsible for luring some of the finest writers of the day to Iowa City. Robert Lowell, John Berryman, Kurt Vonnegut and other prominent authors served as faculty under Engle. Additionally, Engle increased enrollment and oversaw numerous students of future fame and influence, including Flannery O'Connor, Raymond Carver and Robert Bly.
Born Paul Hamilton Engle, he attended Coe College, The University of Iowa, Columbia University, and Oxford University (where he studied as a Rhodes Scholar). Engle's first poetry collection "Worn Earth" won the Yale Series of Younger Poets and his second, "American Song" (1934), was given a rave front-page review in the New York Times Book Review.