Robert Hass Quotes

Powerful Robert Hass for Daily Growth

About Robert Hass

Robert Hass (born October 12, 1941) is an esteemed American poet, essayist, and former U.S. Poet Laureate (1995-1997). Born in San Francisco, California, he grew up in the Bay Area, primarily in the town of Larkspur, where his early experiences with nature would later permeate his poetry. Hass studied at Stanford University, earning a Bachelor's degree in English and Comparative Literature in 1963. His academic journey continued at UC Berkeley, where he completed his Master's (1965) and Ph.D. (1971). During this time, he was significantly influenced by poets such as Robert Lowell, Hart Crane, and William Carlos Williams. His first book of poetry, "Field Guide," published in 1973, showcased his deep connection with nature and the natural world. This was followed by several other critically acclaimed collections, including "Human Wishes" (1989), which won the National Book Critics Circle Award, and "Time and Materials" (1997), for which he received the Pulitzer Prize. In addition to his poetic works, Hass is known for his essays on poetry and culture. His book "Twentieth Century Pleasures: Provocations and Poems" (1984) was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. His essays often explore the intersection of politics, culture, and the natural world. Hass served as U.S. Poet Laureate from 1995 to 1997 and as Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets from 2001 to 2007. His works continue to resonate with readers, offering insights into the human condition while celebrating the beauty of the natural world.

Interpretations of Popular Quotes

"Poetry is the rhythmical creation of vibrations in the air."

This quote suggests that poetry, as a form of art, creates emotional resonance through the use of rhythmic language and imagery. Just as sound waves produce vibrations in the air, words chosen carefully by poets generate similar vibrations that resonate with readers, evoking feelings or ideas. The "vibrations in the air" can be interpreted metaphorically to represent the emotional impact or effect poetry has on its audience.

"Art is a way of questioning the whole of existence."

This quote suggests that art serves as a means to explore, question, and contemplate the fundamental nature of life and the universe. In essence, it's a tool for reflection on existence itself, as well as our place within it. It encourages us to seek understanding, challenge our assumptions, and ponder the mysteries of life through the creative process.

"The idea of poetry as a place where everything can meet and cohere—that's a real need."

This quote suggests that poetry serves as a gathering place, a unifying force in our fragmented world. By "everything" Hass means all aspects of human experience and reality - emotions, thoughts, observations, and even the seemingly disparate elements of life. The essence of his statement lies in the desire for harmony, understanding, and coherence amidst the complexity and diversity of existence. Poetry, therefore, offers a profound need-fulfillment by providing a space where such unity can be imagined, if not achieved.

"Poetry, like dreams, has within it the possibility of everything."

This quote suggests that poetry, similar to dreams, is a vessel for limitless potential and imagination. Just as dreams can embody various scenarios and emotions, poetry also allows for endless interpretations, themes, and expressions. It's an artistic form where the writer's creativity and emotional depth are boundless, making it a powerful tool for exploring the human experience in all its complexity.

"I don't think I could ever have written this kind of poem if I hadn't spent so many years in nature."

This quote by Robert Hass suggests that immersing oneself deeply in nature plays a crucial role in the creation of certain kinds of poetry. The poet implies that experiences gained from spending extensive time in natural environments have an indelible impact on his craft, enabling him to write the kind of poems he does. Essentially, nature serves as a muse and inspiration for Hass's work.

The first book that really knocked me out was the 'Brothers Karamazov.' I read it when I was a senior in high school.

- Robert Hass

Book, Brothers, Read, Senior

In California in the early Spring, There are pale yellow mornings, when the mist burns slowly into day, The air stings like Autumn, clarifies like pain - Well, I have dreamed this coast myself.

- Robert Hass

Yellow, Spring, Air, Mist

When I was in college, I lost my scholarship one year. I had enough money for tuition, but not room and board. So I camped in the hills.

- Robert Hass

College, Year, Had Enough, Enough Money

I teach a lecture course on American poetry to as many as 150 students. For a lot of them, it's their only elective, so this is their one shot. They'll take the Russian Novel or American Poetry, so I want to give them the high points, the inescapable poets.

- Robert Hass

American, Students, Shot, Elective

When I was in high school in the '50s you were supposed to be an Elvis Presley, a James Dean, a Marlon Brando or a Kingston Trio type in a button-down shirt headed for the fraternities at Stanford or Cal.

- Robert Hass

Dean, James, Elvis Presley, Brando

Not to make too much of a claim for poetry, but this is a question that goes to the moral heart of the business of any art: 'How do you see the world, and what right do you have to see the world in the way that you do?'

- Robert Hass

Business, Art, Question, Claim

There are moments when the body is as numinous as words, days that are the good flesh continuing. Such tenderness, those afternoons and evenings, saying blackberry, blackberry, blackberry.

- Robert Hass

Words, Tenderness, Evenings, Blackberry

The Vietnam War and the Iraq war, in different ways, both made me feel like I could not not address them. I'm very doubtful about the usefulness of poetry to do that.

- Robert Hass

Very, Address, Usefulness, Vietnam War

The market doesn't make communities. Markets make networks of self-interested individuals, and they work as long as there's more than enough to go around.

- Robert Hass

Work, Go, More, Communities

When I was younger, I was so crazy about poetry that I didn't notice who was noticing. It seemed to me so tremendous and large.

- Robert Hass

Younger, Large, Seemed, Notice

I think that the job of poetry, its political job, is to refresh the idea of justice, which is going dead in us all the time.

- Robert Hass

Think, I Think, Which, Refresh

I would say Gary Snyder, who is from my part of the world as a poet and environmental thinker, will be read just as Henry Thoreau as John Muir will continue to be read.

- Robert Hass

Environmental, Will, Read, Thinker

I got interested in the question of literacy because writers are always moaning about why more people don't read books.

- Robert Hass

Always, Read, More People, Literacy

You begin to see that all of these things are connected: The kind of cuts that mean less environmental protection are also the kind of cuts that mean less musical education for the schools and that also mean more overcrowded schools.

- Robert Hass

Education, Environmental, Cuts

The Earth forgives the previous year every year.

- Robert Hass

Earth, Year, Previous, Forgives

As poet laureate, I was asked to be a spokesman for literature.

- Robert Hass

Literature, Asked, Spokesman, Poet

All the new thinking is about loss, In this it resembles all the old thinking.

- Robert Hass

Loss, New, Old, Resembles

Writing is an incessant process of discovery.

- Robert Hass

Writing, Process, Incessant, Discovery

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