Robert Hass is the author of two earlier collections of poems, and and a book of essays, He has also collaborated with Czeslaw Milosz on the translation of his poems, most recently His many honors include a John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur fellowship and the 1984 National Book Critics Circle Award in criticism. He has taught for many years at St. Mary's College of California and is currently a professor of English at the University of California, Berkeley.