The Urge to Travel Long Distances

poetry by Bly

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July 20, 2026

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"The Urge to Travel Long Distances" is a collection of poems by Robert Bly, published in 2005. The poems in this collection are noted for their focus on the pastoral landscape of Minnesota. Bly, an American poet, translator, and editor, was also known for his work Iron John: A Book About Men and his translations of various international poets. His poetry often explored themes of nature, masculinity, and the human connection to the land.1

This theme of travel and the open road is also found in other literary works, such as Walt Whitman's poem "Song of the Open Road," which celebrates wanderlust and the freedom of travel.2

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Robert Bly
…the Insatiable Soul (1994) and The Urge to Travel Long Distances (2005) are preoccupied with the pastoral landscape of Minnesota. Bly employed the Arabic ghazal form in the poems comprising The Night Abraham Called to the Stars (2001) and My Sentence Was a Thousand Years of Joy (2005). He also…
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…the Insatiable Soul (1994) and The Urge to Travel Long Distances (2005) are preoccupied with the pastoral landscape of Minnesota. Bly employed the Arabic ghazal form in the poems comprising The Night Abraham Called to the Stars (2001) and My Sentence Was a Thousand Years of Joy (2005). He also…
Read More