Robert Hass Biography

Robert Hass

Hass was appointed Poet Laureate of the United States in 1995 and used the post to promote poetry and literacy. During his term (1995–1997) he wrote weekly columns for the Washington Post, which were published as Poet's Choice: Poems for Everyday Life (1998). He's credited with transforming the formerly ceremonial post into one of activism.

He frequently writes about nature and California's environment, and his poems often explore language. He won National Book Critics Circle Awards for Twentieth Century Pleasures: Prose on Poetry (1984) and Sun Under Wood (1996). His first collection, Field Guide (1973), won the Yale Series of Younger Poets Award.

Hass earned his BA from St. Mary's College in California, and his MA and Ph.D. from Stanford. He teaches at Berkeley.