Robert Hass Summary
Robert Hass

Though he has translated the work of Nobel Prize-winning poet Czeslaw Milosz and written a critical book (Twentieth Century Pleasures) that received the 1984 National Book Critics Circle Award for cri... Read more

In the following review, Fahey criticizes Field Guide as self-consciously poetic, grounded in "ideas" and not in "words." The Yale Series of Younger Poets (e.g. anyone unde... Read more

In the following review, Kizer provides a favorable assessment of Human Wishes. Robert Hass is so intelligent that to read his poetry or prose, or to hear him speak, gives one an almost visceral pleas... Read more

In the following excerpt, Davidson evaluates Hass's use of the scenic mode in his poetry, commenting on his skill in evoking the natural landscape and describing its allegorical relationship to... Read more

In the following excerpt, Gliick discusses Hass's work in relation to that of Robinson Jeffers and Czeslaw Milosz. Robinson Jeffers appears to be a poet other poets chastize eloquently. That is... Read more

In the following review, Waters praises Hass's defi "translation" of both nature and personal history in Field Guide. Field Guide is both the poet and his remarkable volume of poe... Read more

In the following excerpt, Stitt argues that Praise illustrates the development of the American poem in terms of organic structure and ingenuity. In Praise, Robert Hass combines rather radically two co... Read more

In the following interview, Remnick questions Hass about his own work in light of his influences. [Remnick]: What was the original impulse to begin writing? [Hass]: I just liked the sound of it, I thi... Read more

In the following essay, Shapiro illustrates how Hass's strengths—his intellectuality and his ability to render experience—are often at odds with each other in his poetry. One of t... Read more

Critical Essay by Michael Waters Field Guide is both the poet [Robert Hass] and his remarkable volume of poems, a tour through the America of his historical and political consciousness, his vast priva... Read more

Critical Essay by Susan Wood If a book of poems has even one poem in it that makes a reader go back again and again, then the reader can consider himself extremely fortunate, and Robert Hass' s... Read more

Critical Essay by Ira Sadoff [Robert Hass's first book, Field Guide,] was intelligent and well-crafted; it tapped Hass's power of observation carefully and engagingly. My reservations ab... Read more

[In the following review, Hirsch discusses the essays and reviews collected in Hass's Twentieth Century Pleasures, considering what they reveal about Hass and his work.] Recently, I wrote a mem... Read more

[In the following excerpt, Davis commends Hass for a collection that demonstrates his desire "to serve poetry—not appropriate it or crow over it or show off at its expense."] We e... Read more

[In the following excerpt, Kizer praises Hass's Human Wishes.] Robert Hass is so intelligent that to read his poetry or prose, or to hear him speak, gives one an almost visceral pleasure. He is... Read more

[Bogen is an author and educator. In the following review, he remarks favorably on Human Wishes.] What's immediately striking in Robert Hass's work is the sheer abundance of pleasures. W... Read more

[In the following review, Aldan praises Hass's imagery in Human Wishes.] The delicacy and sensibility of Robert Hass, as exemplified in his new volume of poetry, Human Wishes, is a distinct joy... Read more

[In the following article, announcing Hass's appointment to the position of U.S. Poet Laureate, Streitfield describes the duties of the post and anticipates how Hass will follow the work of his... Read more

[In the following essay, Shillinger presents a profile of Hass on the occasion of his appointment as Poet Laureate.] Perhaps everyone is at the football game nearby. At any rate, the cafe is unhurried... Read more

[In the following essay, Weeks recounts Hass's first public reading as U.S. Poet Laureate.] When the tall man in the black suit stood to introduce Robert Hass, the new poet laureate of the Unit... Read more

[In the following review, the critic praises Hass's "quirky, imaginative incarnaitons of grace."] Hass is Poet Laureate of the United States, a position through which he has worke... Read more

[In the following essay, drawn from an interview with Hass during his second year as Poet Laureate, Coffey relates the author's views on the current state of poetry in the United States.] As Po... Read more