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Robert Wrigley

ロバート・リグリー

Robāto Rigurī

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1951-01-01 （East St. Louis, Illinois）
Nationality
United States
Languages
English
Residence History
East St. Louis, Illinois (birth) → University of Montana (study) → Idaho (worked as writer and educator)

Career

Occupations
poet, educator, university professor
Active Years
1976-
Affiliations
University of Idaho (former faculty)
Influenced By
Richard Hugo, Madeline DeFrees, John Haines

Education

University of Montana
Graduate Program (Creative Writing) / Poetry (MFA)
Degree: M.F.A.
Period: 1970s
Year of Graduation: 1976
Country: United States
Studied under Richard Hugo and others

Awards

Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award
Work: Reign of Snakes
Organization: Kingsley Tufts Award Committee
Result: winner
Poets' Prize
2005
Work: Lives of the Animals
Organization: Poets' Prize Committee
Result: winner
San Francisco Poetry Center Book Award
1995
Work: In the Bank of Beautiful Sins
Organization: San Francisco Poetry Center
Result: winner
Pacific Northwest Book Award
2017
Work: Box
Organization: Pacific Northwest Book Award Committee
Result: winner
Pushcart Prize (multiple)
Organization: Pushcart Press
Result: winner (累計7回)
National Endowment for the Arts (Fellowship)
Organization: National Endowment for the Arts
Result: fellowship
Guggenheim Fellowship
Organization: John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation
Result: fellowship

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Reign of Snakes

1999 poetry collection

A collection of poems focusing on nature and human existence, addressing life, death, and the details of everyday life.

naturelife and deathregional identity

Lives of the Animals

2003 poetry collection

A poetry collection exploring relationships between animals, nature, and human society; widely reviewed and discussed.

animalsnature observationethics

In the Bank of Beautiful Sins

1995 poetry collection

A richly imagistic collection of poems juxtaposing personal memory with universal questions.

memorymoralityimagism

Box

2017 poetry collection

A later collection that weaves memory, materiality, and fragments of everyday life.

memoryobjectseveryday life

Earthly Meditations: New and Selected Poems

2006 poetry collection / selected poems

A selected collection combining new and previously published poems, covering many of Wrigley's representative works.

nature poetryrecollectionregionalism

Bibliography

  • The Sinking of Clay City (1979)
  • The Glow (1982, chapbook)
  • Three broadsides — "The Beliefs of a Horse", "A Preference in Birds", "Surfaces" (1984)
  • Moon in a Mason Jar (1986)
  • In the Dark Pool (1987, chapbook)
  • What My Father Believed (1991)
  • In the Bank of Beautiful Sins (1995)
  • Reign of Snakes (1999)
  • Clemency (2002, chapbook)
  • Lives of the Animals (2003)
  • Earthly Meditations: New and Selected Poems (2006)
  • Beautiful Country (2010)
  • After a Rainstorm (2010)
  • Anatomy of Melancholy & Other Poems (2013)
  • The Church of Omnivorous Light: Selected Poems (2013, UK)
  • Box (2017)
  • Nemerov's Door: Essays (2021)
  • The True Account of Myself As a Bird (2022)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
rich imagistic stylerestrained colloquial rhythmsemphasis on regionalism and nature
Recurring Motifs
nature and animalsmemory and losseveryday details

Legacy

An important voice in contemporary American nature poetry. Also a longtime educator who influenced many poets. Recipient of multiple awards and frequently published in literary journals and anthologies.

Archives

  • University of Idaho Special Collections (holds related materials)

Trivia

  • Married to memoirist Kim Barnes.
  • Has received seven Pushcart Prizes.
  • Retired from the University of Idaho MFA program in 2016.