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Poet Gary Snyder sits near his pond with his dog "Emi" on Thursday at his home on the San Juan Ridge. The Pulitzer Prize winner was awarded the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize for his life's work earlier this week.
Years of physical work, intimate travels across the Pacific West Coast, Alaska and Asia, and a lifelong fascination with language thread the poetry of Gary Snyder.
On May 1 - one week before the Pulitzer Prize-winning poet turned 78 - he was recognized yet again for his work, with the prestigious Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize and $100,000.
The prize was founded in 1986. Previous winners include Adrienne Richard, Richard Wilber, W.S. Merwin and Philip Levine.
The award came as a surprise to the man who has made his home on the San Juan Ridge since he moved there in 1970 during the back-to-the-land movement.
"You don't apply for those. They just happen to you," he said modestly, smiling beside rows of books inside his barn library on a recent sunny morning.
Snyder is an active environmental and social critic, calling himself a "public intellectual," and regularly deals with public policy including local wildfire, forest and watershed issues.
"That is part of the role of a writer," Snyder said.
On May 1 - one week before the Pulitzer Prize-winning poet turned 78 - he was recognized yet again for his work, with the prestigious Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize and $100,000.
The prize was founded in 1986. Previous winners include Adrienne Richard, Richard Wilber, W.S. Merwin and Philip Levine.
The award came as a surprise to the man who has made his home on the San Juan Ridge since he moved there in 1970 during the back-to-the-land movement.
"You don't apply for those. They just happen to you," he said modestly, smiling beside rows of books inside his barn library on a recent sunny morning.
Snyder is an active environmental and social critic, calling himself a "public intellectual," and regularly deals with public policy including local wildfire, forest and watershed issues.
"That is part of the role of a writer," Snyder said.
Colorful folded paper cranes hang from the rafters of his rustic library, a reminder of the loss of his wife, Carole Koda, who died in 2006 after a long illness.
"I'm just moving out here now," Snyder said of his barn office, too cold for winter work.
His nearly life-long career has resulted in a collection of 16 books of poetry and prose, translated into 20 languages.
City and country influences
"His poetry is a testament to the sacredness of the natural world and our relation to it, and a prophecy of what we stand to lose if we forget that relation," the judges said in a statement after Snyder was selected.
While many describe him as a nature poet, Snyder questions that label.
"I'm not sure I'm really what can be called a nature poet. That seems like a European idea. I'm waiting for someone to come up with a term," Snyder said.
Besides nature, themes of love and the physical body re-occur in much of Snyder's work, along with the places he's been and the experiences he's had there.
"I'm just moving out here now," Snyder said of his barn office, too cold for winter work.
His nearly life-long career has resulted in a collection of 16 books of poetry and prose, translated into 20 languages.
City and country influences
"His poetry is a testament to the sacredness of the natural world and our relation to it, and a prophecy of what we stand to lose if we forget that relation," the judges said in a statement after Snyder was selected.
While many describe him as a nature poet, Snyder questions that label.
"I'm not sure I'm really what can be called a nature poet. That seems like a European idea. I'm waiting for someone to come up with a term," Snyder said.
Besides nature, themes of love and the physical body re-occur in much of Snyder's work, along with the places he's been and the experiences he's had there.
Born in San Francisco and raised in the Pacific Northwest, his early experiences in the wild among rugged, working-class people were influential to his later writing.
He grew up on a dairy farm surrounded by second-growth forests; his uncles were loggers and fishermen. Snyder's fascination with language began when his mother read him poetry of Edgar Allen Poe as a boy.
As a young man, he worked for a logging company and spent a summer in isolation as a fire lookout for the U.S. Forest Service.
He graduated from Reed College with a degree in literature and anthropology. Along with Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac, Snyder was instrumental in the San Francisco Beat Generation of the late 1950's.
For most of the 1960s, he lived in Japan and studied Zen Buddhism, then moved to the Sierra foothills in 1970.
Short, but not simple
He describes his writing as more vernacular than some writers. His writing is playful, fun and sardonic.
"I enjoy writing brief things and light things," Snyder said. Yet his work is not simplistic.
He grew up on a dairy farm surrounded by second-growth forests; his uncles were loggers and fishermen. Snyder's fascination with language began when his mother read him poetry of Edgar Allen Poe as a boy.
As a young man, he worked for a logging company and spent a summer in isolation as a fire lookout for the U.S. Forest Service.
He graduated from Reed College with a degree in literature and anthropology. Along with Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac, Snyder was instrumental in the San Francisco Beat Generation of the late 1950's.
For most of the 1960s, he lived in Japan and studied Zen Buddhism, then moved to the Sierra foothills in 1970.
Short, but not simple
He describes his writing as more vernacular than some writers. His writing is playful, fun and sardonic.
"I enjoy writing brief things and light things," Snyder said. Yet his work is not simplistic.
"I mask it. I make my poems seem simpler then they really are," Snyder said.
Throughout his career, his writing has evolved and taken different forms.
"I've tried a lot of things. I'm experimental. I've borrowed things from other languages and traditions," said Snyder, who has spent many years studying Chinese and Japanese literary traditions along with the cultures of Native Americans.
Snyder has a long list of awards, including the Bollingen Prize for Poetry he received after finishing his 40-year project begun in 1956, "Mountains and Rivers Without End."
How did he know when to stop after all those years?
"It tastes done," Snyder said.
Sitting at the edge of his pond alive with mosquito fish and tadpoles, Snyder sipped from a steaming ceramic cup of green tea and spoke of his long and fruitful journey.
"You write from your experience," he said.
ooo
To contact Staff Writer Laura Brown, e-mail lbrown@theunion.com or call 477-4231.
Throughout his career, his writing has evolved and taken different forms.
"I've tried a lot of things. I'm experimental. I've borrowed things from other languages and traditions," said Snyder, who has spent many years studying Chinese and Japanese literary traditions along with the cultures of Native Americans.
Snyder has a long list of awards, including the Bollingen Prize for Poetry he received after finishing his 40-year project begun in 1956, "Mountains and Rivers Without End."
How did he know when to stop after all those years?
"It tastes done," Snyder said.
Sitting at the edge of his pond alive with mosquito fish and tadpoles, Snyder sipped from a steaming ceramic cup of green tea and spoke of his long and fruitful journey.
"You write from your experience," he said.
ooo
To contact Staff Writer Laura Brown, e-mail lbrown@theunion.com or call 477-4231.
