“Wildlands, Gardens, and the Metaphysics of the Glimpse: Thinking About Nature in the Anthropocene”
Robert Hass, Professor of English at UC Berkeley, is a former poet laureate of the United States and a recipient of the National Book Award, the MacArthur Genuis Fellowship, and the Pulitzer Prize. In addition to his work on contemporary American poetry and translation, Hass often writes on environmental history and literature. He also co-teaches the popular undergraduate course, “Intro to Environmental Studies,” with ESPM Professor Garrison Sposito.
Widely read and much honored, Professor Hass has brought the kind of energy in his poetry to his work as an essayist, translator, and activist on behalf of poetry, literacy, and the environment. Most notably, in his tenure as United States Poet Laureate, Robert Hass spent two years battling American illiteracy, armed with the mantra, “imagination makes communities.” He crisscrossed the country speaking at Rotary Club meetings, raising money to organize conferences such as “Watershed,” which brought together noted novelists, poets, and storytellers to talk about writing, nature, and community. For Hass, everything is connected. When he works to heighten literacy, he is also working to promote awareness about the environment. Hass believes that natural beauty must be tended to and that caring for a place means knowing it intimately. Poets, especially, need to pay constant attention to the interaction of mind and environment. And when he is talking about poetry itself, whether Matsuo Basho’s or Elizabeth Bishop’s, Hass is both spontaneous and original, offering poetic insights that cannot be found in any textbook.
Bio information adapted from the Barclay Agency.