- Born:
- March 1, 1941, San Francisco, California, U.S. (age 85)
- Title / Office:
- poet laureate (1995-1997)
- Awards And Honors:
- National Book Award
- Pulitzer Prize
Robert Hass
-
Who is Robert Hass?
Robert Hass, born in San Francisco, California, on March 1, 1941, is an American poet and translator. His work and time as the United States Poet Laureate (1995–97) showed his belief that poetry defines the self.
Hass's first poetry collection, Field Guide, was published in 1973 after he won the Yale Series of Younger Poets Award. His second volume, In Praise (1979), examines the use of language. Hass has also translated works by Czesław Miłosz, and his translations and editing of The Essential Haiku: Versions of Bashō, Buson, and Issa (1994) demonstrate his engagement with poetic vision. Time and Materials: Poems, 1997–2005 (2007) received a National Book Award and a Pulitzer Prize.
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What kind of writing is Robert Hass known for?
Robert Hass is known for poetry that often includes images of nature and the California landscape. His writing is noted for its clarity and concise language. His first poetry collection, Field Guide, was published in 1973 after winning the Yale Series of Younger Poets Award.
Hass is also recognized for his translations of works by Czesław Miłosz, and his introduction, editing, and verse translations of The Essential Haiku: Versions of Bashō, Buson, and Issa.
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What are some topics or themes in Robert Hass's poetry?
Robert Hass, an American poet and translator, served as the United States Poet Laureate from 1995 to 1997, where he promoted poetry and literacy. His poetry often includes images of nature and the California landscape, themes evident in his first collection, Field Guide (1973), which won the Yale Series of Younger Poets Award. Hass's work is known for its clarity and concise language. In Praise (1979), he examines the use of language. His interest in poetic vision is further demonstrated through his translations of works by Czesław Miłosz and his work on The Essential Haiku: Versions of Bashō, Buson, and Issa (1994).
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What awards or honors has Robert Hass received?
Robert Hass has received several awards and honors for his work as a poet and translator. His first poetry collection, Field Guide, won the Yale Series of Younger Poets Award. His volume of essays, Twentieth Century Pleasures: Prose on Poetry, received a National Book Critics Circle Award in 1984. Hass also won a second National Book Critics Circle Award for his poetry collection, Sun Under Wood, published in 1996. His collection Time and Materials: Poems, 1997–2005 (2007), was awarded a National Book Award and a Pulitzer Prize. In 2014, Hass received the Wallace Stevens Award from the Academy of American Poets.
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What work has Robert Hass done as a translator?
Robert Hass is an American poet and translator whose work and time as poet laureate of the United States (1995–97) showed his belief that poetry defines the self.
Hass's translations include several works by Czesław Miłosz, such as The Separate Notebooks (1984; with Robert Pinsky, Miłosz, and Renata Gorcyzski), Unattainable Earth (1986; with Miłosz), The Collected Poems, 1931–1987 (1988), and Provinces (1991; also with Miłosz). He also did the introduction, editing, and verse translations of The Essential Haiku: Versions of Bashō, Buson, and Issa (1994). These works demonstrate his wide-ranging interest in and engagement with poetic vision.
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How has Robert Hass influenced American poetry and literature?
Robert Hass significantly impacted American poetry and literature through his work and his tenure as U.S. Poet Laureate (1995-97), where he promoted poetry and literacy. His poetry, marked by clear language and imagery of nature, is showcased in Field Guide (1973) and Sun Under Wood (1996), the latter winning a National Book Critics Circle Award.
Hass's influence extends to his essays and translations of poets such as Czesław Miłosz, and The Essential Haiku, demonstrating his engagement with poetic vision. His contributions have earned him a National Book Award and a Pulitzer Prize for Time and Materials: Poems, 1997–2005 (2007), and the Wallace Stevens Award in 2014.
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Robert Hass (born March 1, 1941, San Francisco, California, U.S.) is an American poet and translator whose body of work and tenure as poet laureate of the United States (1995–97) revealed his deep conviction that poetry, as one critic put it, “is what defines the self.”
Hass attended St. Mary’s College (B.A., 1963) in Moraga, California, and Stanford University (M.A., 1965; Ph.D., 1976). In the late 1960s he began teaching, working from 1971 to 1974 and 1975 to 1989 at St. Mary’s. In 1989 he joined the faculty of the University of California at Berkeley. Named poet laureate consultant in poetry in 1995, he used his two terms in the position to promote poetry and literacy, thus helping to redefine a position that until then had largely been ceremonial. Poet’s Choice: Poems for Everyday Life (1998) contains the weekly columns he wrote for the Washington Post during this period.
Hass’s first poetry collection, Field Guide, was published in 1973 after winning the Yale Series of Younger Poets Award. It is filled with images of nature and the California landscape, common themes in his work, and is noted for the clarity and conciseness of its language. In Praise (1979), his second volume, Hass eloquently examines the use of language. His volume of essays on and reviews of American, European, and Japanese poets, Twentieth Century Pleasures: Prose on Poetry (1984; 3rd ed., 1997), won a National Book Critics Circle Award in 1984. His translations, with others, of several works by Czesław Miłosz—including The Separate Notebooks (1984; with poet Robert Pinsky, Miłosz, and Renata Gorcyzski), Unattainable Earth (1986; with Miłosz), The Collected Poems, 1931–1987 (1988), and Provinces (1991; also with Miłosz)—and his introduction to and editing and verse translations of The Essential Haiku: Versions of Bashō, Buson, and Issa (1994) and other volumes are evidence of the range of his interest in and engagement with poetic vision.
Among his own subsequent collections of poetry were Human Wishes (1989) and Sun Under Wood (1996), which won for Hass a second National Book Critics Circle Award. He spent much of the next decade teaching and working with human rights and environmental groups. He continued writing during this period, and his work, collected as Time and Materials: Poems, 1997–2005 (2007), received a National Book Award and a Pulitzer Prize. The Apple Trees at Olema: New and Selected Poems was published in 2010. Four years later Hass received the Wallace Stevens Award from the Academy of American Poets. Summer Snow: New Poems appeared in 2020. His nonfiction included What Light Can Do: Essays on Art, Imagination, and the Natural World (2012). He also wrote A Little Book on Form: An Exploration into the Formal Imagination of Poetry (2017).