Creeley, Robert (1926-2005), an American poet, was one of a group of writers who are sometimes called the Black Mountain poets. This group, which includes Robert Duncan and Charles Olson, worked together at Black Mountain College, an experimental school in Black Mountain, N.C. Beginning in the 1950’s, they developed a new kind of poetry based on Creeley’s idea that “form is never more than an extension of content.”
Creeley’s poems are short and unrhymed, with few descriptive details. They often deal with “the tragedy of human relationships,” such as strained communication between lovers, friends, or parents and children. Some poems suggest a playful or passionate struggle between the mind and body, and the self and world.
Robert White Creeley was born on May 21, 1926, in Arlington, Massachusetts. His poetry has been collected in Collected Poems: 1945-1975 (1982), Echoes (1994), Life & Death (1998), and If I Were Writing This (2003). A selection of his fiction and nonfiction was published as The Collected Prose of Robert Creeley (1984). Creeley died on March 30, 2005. On Earth: Last Poems and an Essay (2006) and Selected Poems, 1945-2005 (2008) were published after his death.
