In Watertown, within Mt. Auburn Cemetery, is this grave for poet, Robert Creeley.
Mt. Auburn Cemetery is located at the boundary between Cambridge and Watertown, along Mt. Auburn Street, and near the intersection with Belmont Street. After entering, be sure to get a map at the visitor center ($1). The grave is nearest Arethusa Path, which is off Walnut Ave.
The marker seems to be a light stone that has darkened over time due to mosses and the fact that is shaded by tall trees. The front of the stone has the following:
"Robert Creeley
May 21, 1926
March 30, 2005"
Robert Creeley was born in Arlington and grew up in Acton. At the age of two he lost his left eye. He went to Harvard, but left to serve in the American Field Service in Burma and India in 1944-1945. He returned to Harvard, but finished his BA from Black Mountain College in 1955. he lived in Spain for a while while also teaching at Black Mountain College. There, he founded Divers Press, which published works of other poets. He wrote about half of his published prose there. In 1960, he earned an MA from the University of new Mexico. he taught at several schools, including the University of Buffalo and Brown University.
Over 60 books were published by him. His first was Le Fou, published in 1952. He is considered an innovative poet, whose techniques were more subtle, according to Wikipedia - I'll leave the details to the article. The verses have a loose organization where the number of words per line may vary and some lines may rhyme while others may not. One example given by the article is the poem, 'The Hero':
THE HERO
Each voice which was asked
spoke its words, and heard
more than that, the fair question,
the onerous burden of the asking.
And so the hero, the
hero! stepped that gracefully
into his redemption, losing
or gaining life thereby.
He was once associated with the Black Mountain Poets, but his style is distinct from that group. his works are noted for their conciseness and emotional power. Another comment is that he was a leader in a shift in poetry where sources were less from history or tradition and more on personal experiences.
Other Source:
The Poetry Foundation (Robert Creeley):
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Bookawards.bizland.com (lannan literar awards):
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visit link)