Robert Mezey (February 28, 1935 – April 25, 2020) was an American poet, critic and academic. He was also a noted translator, in particular from

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...

, having translated with Richard Barnes the collected poems of

Borges Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges Acevedo (; ; 24 August 1899 – 14 June 1986) was an Argentine short-story writer, essayist, poet and translator, as well as a key figure in Spanish-language and international literature. His best-known bo ...

. He was born in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

, and attended

Kenyon College Kenyon College is a private liberal arts college in Gambier, Ohio. It was founded in 1824 by Philander Chase. Kenyon College is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. Kenyon has 1,708 undergraduates enrolled. Its 1,000-acre campus is se ...

as a contemporary of

E. L. Doctorow Edgar Lawrence Doctorow (January 6, 1931 – July 21, 2015) was an American novelist, editor, and professor, best known for his works of historical fiction. He wrote twelve novels, three volumes of short fiction and a stage drama. They included ...

and James Wright; after a time and serving in the army he finished in 1959 an undergraduate degree at the

University of Iowa The University of Iowa (UI, U of I, UIowa, or simply Iowa) is a public university, public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is org ...

. Having worked for a while, he became a graduate student at

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

. Then he began teaching at

Case Western Reserve University Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) is a private research university in Cleveland, Ohio. Case Western Reserve was established in 1967, when Western Reserve University, founded in 1826 and named for its location in the Connecticut Western Reser ...

, in 1963. During a year at

Franklin and Marshall College Franklin & Marshall College (F&M) is a private liberal arts college in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. It employs 175 full-time faculty members and has a student body of approximately 2,400 full-time students. It was founded upon the merger of Frankli ...

he was for a time suspended after an accusation of inciting students to burn draft cards. After holding other positions, he settled in 1976 at

Pomona College Pomona College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Claremont, California. It was established in 1887 by a group of Congregationalists who wanted to recreate a "college of the New England type" in Southern California. In 1925, it became ...

, until retiring in 2000. He received numerous awards including the 2002

Poets' Prize The Poets' Prize is awarded annually for the best book of verse published by a living American poet two years prior to the award year. The $3000 annual prize is donated by a committee of about 20 American poets, who each nominate two books and who ...

for ''Collected Poems: 1952-1999''.

Works

"Fishing Around"
''The New Yorker'', January 21, 2008 *''The Lovemaker'' (1960), poems, received the

Lamont Poetry Prize The Academy of American Poets is a national, member-supported organization that promotes poets and the art of poetry. The nonprofit organization was incorporated in the state of New York in 1934. It fosters the readership of poetry through outreach ...

in 1961. *''White Blossoms'' (1965), poems *''A Book of Dying'', poems *''The Mercy of Sorrow'', poems *''Naked Poetry'' (1969), anthology, editor with Stephen Berg *''The Door Standing Open: Selected Poems'' (1970) *''Poems from the Hebrew'' (1973), translator *''Small Song'' (1979), poems *''Tungsteno'', novel by Caesar Vallejo (1982), translator *''Evening Wind'' (1987), poems *''Couplets'' *''Selected Translations'' *''The Collected Poems of

Henri Coulette Henri Coulette (November 17, 1927 – March 26, 1988) was an American poet and educator. His first book, ''The War of the Secret Agents and Other Poems'' ( Scribner, 1965), was greeted with acclaim and won the Lamont Poetry Prize. His second colle ...

'' (1990), editor with

Donald Justice Donald Rodney Justice (August 12, 1925 – August 6, 2004) was an American teacher of writing and poet who won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1980. In summing up Justice's career, David Orr wrote, "In most ways, Justice was no different from an ...

*''Natural Selection'' (1995), poems *''Thomas Hardy: Selected Poems'' (1998), editor *''The Poetry of E. A. Robinson'' (1999), editor *''Collected Poems 1952-1999'' (2000) *''Poems of the American West'' (2002), editor *''Poems of Jorge Luis Borges'', translator with Richard Barnes

References

External links

"Review: The Poetry of Robert Mezey"
Chicago Review, Peter Michelson, Vol. 16, No. 2 (Summer, 1963), pp. 123–128

New Poetry at '' The Flea'', Broadsheet 14, March 2011. {{DEFAULTSORT:Mezey, Robert 1935 births 2020 deaths Formalist poets Poets from California American male poets Pomona College faculty Kenyon College alumni University of Iowa alumni Stanford University alumni Case Western Reserve University faculty Writers from Philadelphia