Bly, Robert

Bly, Robert

▪ American author
in full  Robert Elwood Bly 
born December 23, 1926, Madison, Minnesota, U.S.

      American poet, translator, editor, and author, perhaps best-known to the public at large as the author of Iron John: A Book About Men (1990, reprinted 2001 as Iron John: Men and Masculinity). Drawing upon Jungian psychology, myth, legend, folklore, fairy tales (the title is taken from a story by the Grimm Brothers (Grimm, Brothers)), the book demonstrates Bly's masculinist convictions. Though it had many detractors, it proved an important, creative, and best-selling work on the subject of manhood and masculinity for a budding men's movement in the United States.

      After serving in the U.S. Navy, Bly studied at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota (1946–47), Harvard University (B.A., 1950), and the University of Iowa (M.A., 1956). In 1958 he cofounded the magazine The Fifties (its name changed with the decades), which published translations and poetry by Bly and other important young poets. Bly's first collection of poems, Silence in the Snowy Fields (1962), reveals his sense of man in nature. It was followed by The Light Around the Body (1968), which won a National Book Award. His later poems and “prose poems” were published in volumes such as Sleepers Joining Hands (1973), This Body Is Made of Camphor and Gopherwood (1977), This Tree Will Be Here for a Thousand Years (1979), Morning Poems (1997), and Eating the Honey of Words (1999). Bly also translated the work of many poets, ranging from Rainer Maria Rilke (Rilke, Rainer Maria) (German), Knut Hamsun (Hamsun, Knut) (Norwegian), Tomas Tranströmer (Tranströmer, Tomas) (Swedish), and Pablo Neruda (Neruda, Pablo) and Antonio Machado (Machado, Antonio) (Spanish) to the 15th-century Indian mystic Kabir (Kabīr) (in Bengali translation).

      His poems of The Man in the Black Coat Turns (1981) explore themes of male grief and the father-son connection that he developed further in Iron John and also The Maiden King: The Reunion of Masculine and Feminine (1999), written with Marion Woodman.

      A collection of Bly's prose poems appeared in 1992 under the title What Have I Ever Lost by Dying?. His later collections of poetry include Meditations on the Insatiable Soul (1994) and The Night Abraham Called to the Stars (2001).

Additional Reading
Books of criticism and interpretation include Howard Nelson, Robert Bly, an Introduction to the Poetry (1984); Joyce Peseroff (ed.), Robert Bly: When Sleepers Awake (1984); Richard P. Sugg, Robert Bly (1986); William V. Davis, Understanding Robert Bly (1988), and Robert Bly: The Poet and His Critics (1994); and William V. Davis (ed.), Critical Essays on Robert Bly.

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Universalium. 2010.

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  • Bly, Robert (Elwood) — born Dec. 23, 1926, Madison, Minn., U.S. U.S. poet and translator. Bly attended Harvard University and the University of Iowa. In 1958 he founded the magazine The Fifties (later The Sixties), which published the works of young poets. He helped… …   Universalium

  • Bly, Robert (Elwood) — (n. 23 dic. 1926, Madison, Minn., EE.UU.). Poeta y traductor estadounidense. Bly se formó en las universidades de Harvard y Iowa. En 1958 fundó la revista The Fifties [Los cincuenta] (más adelante The Sixties [Los sesenta]), en la que se… …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • Robert bly — Pour les articles homonymes, voir Robert et Bly (homonymie).  Cet article concerne le poète. Pour l écrivain américain Bob Bly faisant autorité sur des sujets liés au monde des affaires (copywriting, écriture freelance, marketing…), voir… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Robert Bly — Pour les articles homonymes, voir Robert et Bly (homonymie). Cet article concerne le poète. Pour l écrivain américain Bob Bly faisant autorité sur des sujets liés au monde des affaires (copywriting, écriture freelance, marketing…), voir Robert W …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Robert — /rob euhrt/, n. 1. Henry Martyn /mahr tn/, 1837 1923, U.S. engineer and authority on parliamentary procedure: author of Robert s Rules of Order (1876, revised 1915). 2. a male given name: from Germanic words meaning glory and bright. * * * (as… …   Universalium

  • Robert — (as used in expressions) Adam, Robert Aldrich, Robert Altman, Robert (B.) Ashe, Arthur (Robert), Jr. Baden Powell (de Gilwell), Robert Stephenson Smyth, 1 barón Bakewell, Robert Baldwin, Robert Ballard Robert D(uane) Bly, Robert (Elwood) Borden,… …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • Robert Bly — (born December 23, 1926 in Madison, Minnesota) is an American poet, author, activist and leader of the Mythopoetic Men s Movement in the United States.LifeRobert Bly was born in Madison, Minnesota to parents of Norwegian stock. Following… …   Wikipedia

  • Robert Bly — am Poetry Out Loud Festival, Minnesota, 2009 Robert Bly (* 23. Dezember 1926 in Madison, Minnesota, USA) ist ein US amerikanischer Schriftsteller und Protagonist der US amerikanischen Männerbewegung, deren mythopoetische Ausprägung er vertritt …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Robert W. Bly — generally known as Bob Bly is an authoritative writer on the subjects of copywriting, freelance writing, and other marketing/writing subjects.Bob has been a professional writer since 1979 and a full time freelance writer since 1982. He has… …   Wikipedia

  • Bly (homonymie) — BLY Cette page d’homonymie répertorie les différents sujets et articles partageant un même nom. {{{image}}}   Sigles d une seule lettre   Sigles de deux lettres > Sigles de trois lettres …   Wikipédia en Français

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