Robert Pack (May 19, 1929 – June 5, 2023) was an American poet and critic, and Distinguished Senior Professor in the Davidson Honors College at the

University of Montana - Missoula The University of Montana (UM) is a public research university in Missoula, Montana, United States. UM is a flagship institution of the Montana University System and its second largest campus. Fall 2024 saw total enrollment hit 10,811, marking ...

. For thirty-four years he taught at

Middlebury College Middlebury College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Middlebury, Vermont, United States. Founded in 1800 by Congregationalism in the United States, Congregationalists, Middlebury w ...

and from 1973 to 1995 served as director of the

Bread Loaf Writers' Conference The Middlebury Bread Loaf Writers' Conference is an author's conference held every summer at the Bread Loaf Inn, near Bread Loaf Mountain, east of Middlebury, Vermont. Founded in 1926, it has been called by ''The New Yorker'' "the oldest and most ...

. He is the author of twenty-two books of poetry and criticism. Pack has been called, by

Harold Bloom Harold Bloom (July 11, 1930 – October 14, 2019) was an American literary critic and the Sterling Professor of humanities at Yale University. In 2017, Bloom was called "probably the most famous literary critic in the English-speaking world". Af ...

, an heir to

Robert Frost Robert Lee Frost (March26, 1874January29, 1963) was an American poet. Known for his realistic depictions of rural life and his command of American Colloquialism, colloquial speech, Frost frequently wrote about settings from rural life in New E ...

and

Edwin Arlington Robinson Edwin Arlington Robinson (December 22, 1869 – April 6, 1935) was an American poet and playwright. Robinson won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry on three occasions and was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature four times. Early life Robins ...

, and has himself published a volume of admiring essays on Frost's poetry. He has co-edited several books with

Jay Parini Jay Parini (born April 2, 1948) is an American writer and academic. He is known for novels, poetry, biography, screenplays and criticism. He has published novels about Leo Tolstoy, Walter Benjamin, Paul the Apostle, Herman Melville, and a noveli ...

, including ''Writers on Writing: A Breadloaf Anthology''.

Biography

Pack received his B.A. from

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College ( ) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, Dartmouth is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the America ...

in 1951 and an M.A. from

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

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 is a Private college, private Women's colleges in the United States, women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college affiliated with Columbia University in New York City. It was founded in 1889 by a grou ...

. In 1964 Pack was invited to develop a new program in creative writing at

. 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

from 1973 to 1995. Among the writers he recruited for the teaching staff were novelists John Gardner and

John Irving John Winslow Irving (born John Wallace Blunt Jr.; March 2, 1942) is an American and Canadian novelist, short story writer, and screenwriter. Irving achieved critical and popular acclaim after the international success of his fourth novel '' Th ...

and poets

Howard Nemerov Howard Nemerov (February 29, 1920 – July 5, 1991) was an American poet. Nemerov was the Edward Mallinckrodt Distinguished University Professor of English and Distinguished Poet in Residence at Washington University in St. Louis. He was twice ...

Donald Justice Donald Rodney Justice (August 12, 1925 – August 6, 2004) was an American poet and teacher of creative writing who won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1980. Early life and education Justice was born on August 12, 1925, in Miami. He attended the ...

, and

Mark Strand Mark Strand (April 11, 1934 – November 29, 2014) was a Canadian-born American poet, essayist and translator. He was appointed Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress in 1990 and received the Wallace Stevens Award in 2004 ...

. 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. His daughter, Pamela Pack, is a

rock climber Rock climbing is a climbing sports discipline that involves ascending routes consisting of natural rock in an outdoor environment, or on artificial resin climbing walls in a mostly indoor environment. Routes are documented in guidebooks, and ...

known for her pursuit of off-width cracks. Pack died in 2023.

Works

Poetry

* ''The Irony of Joy'',

Scribners Charles Scribner's Sons, or simply Scribner's or Scribner, is an American publisher based in New York City that has published several notable American authors, including Henry James, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Kurt Vonnegut, Marjor ...

(1955) * ''A Stranger's Privilege'',

Macmillan Publishers Macmillan Publishers (occasionally known as the Macmillan Group; formally Macmillan Publishers Ltd in the United Kingdom and Macmillan Publishing Group, LLC in the United States) is a British publishing company traditionally considered to be on ...

(1959) * ''Guarded by Women'',

Random House Random House is an imprint and publishing group of Penguin Random House. Founded in 1927 by businessmen Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer as an imprint of Modern Library, it quickly overtook Modern Library as the parent imprint. Over the foll ...

(1963) * ''Home from the Cemetery'',

Rutgers University Press Rutgers University Press (RUP) is a nonprofit academic publishing house, operating in New Brunswick, New Jersey under the auspices of Rutgers University Rutgers University ( ), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Pub ...

(1969) * ''Nothing But Light'',

(1972) * ''Keeping Watch'',

(1976) * ''Waking to My Name: New and Selected Poems'',

Johns Hopkins University Press Johns Hopkins University Press (also referred to as JHU Press or JHUP) is the publishing division of Johns Hopkins University. It was founded in 1878 and is the oldest continuously running university press in the United States. The press publi ...

(1980) * ''Clayfeld Rejoices, Clayfeld Laments: A Sequence of Poems'', David R. Godine Press (1987) * ''Before It Vanishes: A Packet of Poems for Professor Pagels'', David R. Godine Press (1989) * ''Fathering the Map: New and Selected Later Poems'',

University of Chicago Press The University of Chicago Press is the university press of the University of Chicago, a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois. It is the largest and one of the oldest university presses in the United States. It pu ...

(1993) * ''Minding the Sun'',

(1996) * ''Rounding It Out'',

(1999) * ''Elk in Winter'',

(2004) * ''Still Here, Still Now'',

(2009) * ''Laughter Before Sleep'',

(2011)

Prose

* ''Wallace Stevens: An Approach to his Poetry and Thought'',

(1958) * ''Faces in a Single Tree: A Cycle of Monologues'', David R. Godine Press (1984) * ''Affirming Limits: Essays on Morality, Choice, and Poetic Form'', The University of Massachusetts Press (1985) * ''The Long View: Essays on the Discipline of Hope and Poetic Craft'', The University of Massachusetts Press (1991) * ''Belief and Uncertainty in the Poetry of Robert Frost'', The New England University Press (2003) * ''Composing Voices: A Cycle of Dramatic Monologues'', Lost Horse Press (2005) * ''Literary Genius: 25 Classic Writers Who Define English & American Literature'',

Paul Dry Books Paul may refer to: People * Paul (given name), a given name, including a list of people * Paul (surname), a list of people * Paul the Apostle, an apostle who wrote many of the books of the New Testament * Ray Hildebrand, half of the singing duo P ...

(2007) (Illustrated by

Barry Moser Barry Moser (born 1940) is an American visual artist and educator, known as a printmaker specializing in wood engravings, and an illustrator of numerous works of literature. He is also the owner and operator of the Pennyroyal Press, an engraving a ...

) * ''Willing to Choose: Volition and Storytelling in Shakespeare's Major Plays'', Lost Horse Press (2007)

References

External links

Poetry Foundation website page for Robert Pack
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pack, Robert American male poets University of Montana faculty 1929 births 2023 deaths