Robert Pack (poet and critic)
Encyclopedia
Robert Pack is an American poet and critic, and Distinguished Senior Professor in the Davidson Honors College at the University of Montana - Missoula
. For thirty-four years he taught at Middlebury College
and from 1973 to 1995 served as director of the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference
. He is the author of twenty-two books of poetry and criticism. Pack has been called, by Harold Bloom
, an heir to Robert Frost
and Edwin Arlington Robinson
, and has himself published a volume of admiring essays on Frost's poetry. He has co-edited several books with Jay Parini
, including Writers on Writing: A Breadloaf Anthology.
in 1951 and an M.A. from Columbia University
in 1953. Pack was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship to Italy to translate poetry in 1957. Upon his return, he began teaching at Barnard College
. In 1964 Pack was invited to develop a new program in creative writing at Middlebury College
. At Middlebury, Pack specialized in poetry workshops, modern British and American Poetry, English Romantic poetry, and the plays of Shakespeare. He was awarded the Abernethy Chair of American Literature and later a special College chair that allowed him to teach across the curriculum. In addition, he served as director of the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference
from 1973 to 1995. Among the writers he recruited for the teaching staff were novelists John Gardner and John Irving and poets Howard Nemerov
, Donald Justice
, and Mark Strand
. After retiring from Middlebury College in 1996, Pack and his wife Patty moved to Montana to be nearer to their three children, and Pack began teaching at the University of Montana Honors College. In 2006, the University of Montana awarded Pack its George M. Dennison Presidential Faculty Award for Distinguished Service.
University of Montana - Missoula
The University of Montana ‒ Missoula is a public research university located in Missoula, Montana, in the United States. Founded in 1893, the university is the flagship campus of the four-campus University of Montana System and is its largest institution...
. For thirty-four years he taught at Middlebury College
Middlebury College
Middlebury College is a private liberal arts college located in Middlebury, Vermont, USA. Founded in 1800, it is one of the oldest liberal arts colleges in the United States. Drawing 2,400 undergraduates from all 50 United States and over 70 countries, Middlebury offers 44 majors in the arts,...
and from 1973 to 1995 served as director of the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference
Bread Loaf Writers' Conference
The Bread Loaf Writers' Conference is a writers' conference held every summer at the Bread Loaf Inn, near Bread Loaf Mountain, east of Middlebury, Vermont...
. He is the author of twenty-two books of poetry and criticism. Pack has been called, by Harold Bloom
Harold Bloom
Harold Bloom is an American writer and literary critic, and is Sterling Professor of Humanities at Yale University. He is known for his defense of 19th-century Romantic poets, his unique and controversial theories of poetic influence, and his prodigious literary output, particularly for a literary...
, an heir to Robert Frost
Robert Frost
Robert Lee Frost was an American poet. He is highly regarded for his realistic depictions of rural life and his command of American colloquial speech. His work frequently employed settings from rural life in New England in the early twentieth century, using them to examine complex social and...
and Edwin Arlington Robinson
Edwin Arlington Robinson
Edwin Arlington Robinson was an American poet who won three Pulitzer Prizes for his work.- Biography :Robinson was born in Head Tide, Lincoln County, Maine, but his family moved to Gardiner, Maine, in 1870...
, and has himself published a volume of admiring essays on Frost's poetry. He has co-edited several books with Jay Parini
Jay Parini
Jay Parini is an American writer and academic. He is known for novels and poetry, biography and criticism.He was born in Pittston, Pennsylvania, and brought up in Scranton, Pennsylvania. He graduated from Lafayette College in 1970 and was awarded a doctorate by the University of St. Andrews in 1975...
, including Writers on Writing: A Breadloaf Anthology.
Biography
Pack received his B.A. from Dartmouth CollegeDartmouth College
Dartmouth College is a private, Ivy League university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. The institution comprises a liberal arts college, Dartmouth Medical School, Thayer School of Engineering, and the Tuck School of Business, as well as 19 graduate programs in the arts and sciences...
in 1951 and an M.A. from Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
in 1953. Pack was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship to Italy to translate poetry in 1957. Upon his return, he began teaching at Barnard College
Barnard College
Barnard College is a private women's liberal arts college and a member of the Seven Sisters. Founded in 1889, Barnard has been affiliated with Columbia University since 1900. The campus stretches along Broadway between 116th and 120th Streets in the Morningside Heights neighborhood in the borough...
. In 1964 Pack was invited to develop a new program in creative writing at Middlebury College
Middlebury College
Middlebury College is a private liberal arts college located in Middlebury, Vermont, USA. Founded in 1800, it is one of the oldest liberal arts colleges in the United States. Drawing 2,400 undergraduates from all 50 United States and over 70 countries, Middlebury offers 44 majors in the arts,...
. At Middlebury, Pack specialized in poetry workshops, modern British and American Poetry, English Romantic poetry, and the plays of Shakespeare. He was awarded the Abernethy Chair of American Literature and later a special College chair that allowed him to teach across the curriculum. In addition, he served as director of the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference
Bread Loaf Writers' Conference
The Bread Loaf Writers' Conference is a writers' conference held every summer at the Bread Loaf Inn, near Bread Loaf Mountain, east of Middlebury, Vermont...
from 1973 to 1995. Among the writers he recruited for the teaching staff were novelists John Gardner and John Irving and poets Howard Nemerov
Howard Nemerov
Howard Nemerov was an American poet. He was twice appointed Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 1963 to 1964, and again from 1988 to 1990. He received the National Book Award, Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, and Bollingen Prize for The Collected Poems of Howard Nemerov...
, Donald Justice
Donald Justice
Donald Justice was an American poet and teacher of writing. In summing up Justice's career, David Orr has written, "In most ways, Justice was no different from any number of solid, quiet older writers devoted to traditional short poems. But he was different in one important sense: sometimes his...
, and Mark Strand
Mark Strand
Mark Strand is an American poet, essayist, and translator. He was appointed Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress in 1990. Since 2005, he has been a professor of English at Columbia University.- Biography :...
. After retiring from Middlebury College in 1996, Pack and his wife Patty moved to Montana to be nearer to their three children, and Pack began teaching at the University of Montana Honors College. In 2006, the University of Montana awarded Pack its George M. Dennison Presidential Faculty Award for Distinguished Service.
Poetry
- Laughter Before Sleep, University of Chicago Press (2011)
- Still Here, Still Now, University of Chicago Press (2009)
- Elk in Winter, University of Chicago Press (2004)
- Rounding It Out, University of Chicago Press (1999)
- Minding the Sun, University of Chicago Press (1996)
- Fathering the Map: New and Selected Later Poems, University of Chicago Press (1993)
- Before It Vanishes: A Packet of Poems for Professor Pagels, David R Godine Press (1989)
- Clayfeld Rejoices, Clayfeld Laments: A Sequence of Poems, David R Godine Press (1987)
- Waking to My Name: New and Selected Poems, Johns Hopkins University Press (1980)
- Keeping Watch, Rutgers University Press (1976)
- Nothing But Light, Rutgers University Press (1972)
- Home from the Cemetery, Rutgers University Press (1969)
- Guarded by Women, Random House (1963)
- A Stranger’s Privilege, MacMillan Publishers (1959)
- The Irony of Joy, Scribners (1955)
Prose
- Willing to Choose: Volition and Storytelling in Shakespeare’s Major Plays, Lost Horse Press (2007)
- Composing Voices: A Cycle of Dramatic Monologues, Lost Horse Press (2005)
- Belief and Uncertainty in the Poetry of Robert Frost, The New England University Press (2003)
- The Long View: Essays on the Discipline of Hope and Poetic Craft, The University of Massachusetts Press (1991)* Affirming Limits: Essays on Motality, Choice, and Poetic Form, The University of Massachusetts Press (1985)
- Faces in a Single Tree: A Cycle of Monologues, David R Godine Press (1984)
- Wallace Steves: An Approach to his Poetry and Thought, Rutgers University Press (1958)