Robert Fitzgerald

Robert Fitzgerald (1910–1985) was a poet, critic, and translator. He grew up in Springfield, Illinois and graduated from The Choate School before going on to Harvard University. In 1931 Poetry magazine published some of his original works. After college he started to translate Greek poetry to keep up his skills. These translations were published to much acclaim and he soon earned a reputation as one of the best Greek translators in English. His translations became standard works for scholars and students and in 1961 he earned the Bollingen Award for his verse translation of Homer’s Odyssey. Fitzgerald’s experience writing poetry made his translations much more than a literal work, and more of an art. Fitzgerald worked for The Herald Tribune and TIME magazine before going on to teach at Sarah Lawrence, Princeton, Notre Dame, and Harvard. He was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets. He was appointed Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress in 1984.