This is the way the world ends…

The poet, writer, and founder of the Mythopoetic Men’s Movement, Robert Bly was born in Lac qui Parle County, Minnesota on December 23, 1926. He attended college first at Minnesota’s St. Olaf College and then transferred to Harvard University where he spent much of his time surrounded by other young writers such as Donald Hall and John Hawkes. Both of his parents of Norwegian descent, Bly traveled to and lived in Norway during his collegiate experience at the University of Iowa, where he translated the works of various poets such as Pablo Neruda and Kabir, who without Bly’s translations would be virtually unknown to Americans. He currently resides in Minnesota and has recently celebrated his 83rd birthday and still writes poems.

Robert Bly’s poetry carreer has been widely celebrated and critically acclaimed. His many books of poetry include Silence in the Snowy Fields, The Man in the Black Coat Turns, and the winner of the 1967 National Book Award, The Light Around the Body. All critically acclaimed, Bly combines the masculine tendancies of writers such as Ernest Hemmingway with the beautiful, detailed imagery of nature used by Ralph Waldo Emerson and Robert Frost. For example, when asked about Silence in the Snowy Fields, Bly responded that he was “interested in the connection between poetry and simplicity. . . . The fundamental world of poetry is an inward world. We approach it through solitude”, embodying the ideas of Henry David Thoreau. Building off the ideas of nature and solitude, Bly’s poetry greatly draws from Thoreau through anti-war themes. For example, Robert Bly used his poetry to denounce American involvement in the Vietnam War and in fact established the American Writers Against the Vietnam War. Along with writing his own poetry, Bly brought to the attention of the American masses the poetry of various South American and European poets through translations in books such as Trusting Your Life to Water and Eternity in which he translated twenty poems of Olav Hauge. By translating these relatively unknown poets, Bly broadened his scope and was influenced by those poets.

Along with writing and translating poetry, Robert Bly has writen many books regarding the influence of other poets and common themes that appear in his poetry. One of his most early and most unique books is A Wrong Turn in American Poetry in which he critisized those who think that American poetry is only influenced by the well known poets such as William Carlos WIlliams and T.S. Elliot. These ideas are also expressed in his poetry, as Bly regards the less mainstream, foreign poets which he studied in college as more important figures. Along with writing about poets, Bly has written books about the masculinity that defined him and his poetry. His most famous book entitled Iron John: A Book About Men marks Bly’s founding of the Mythopoetic Men’s Movement, a psychological self help organization loosely based around the works of Bly and others’ writings. This movement for men was a response by Bly to his personal life, as his divorce from his wife Carol caused him to turn towards more independent, masculine ideas and themes in his books and poetry.

Robert Bly has recieved numerous awards and recognitions for his poetry, books and lifetime achievements. Not only did he recieve the National Book Award for The Light Around the Body, but he has been recognized by institutions such as the University of Minnesota and the state of Minnesota for his achievements in literature.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Bly

http://www.poetryfoundation.org/archive/poet.html?id=653

~ by michaelzeng1 on March 25, 2010 .