Gary Snyder facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Gary Snyder
Snyder in 2007
Born	(1930-05-08) May 8, 1930 (age 95) San Francisco, California, U.S.
Occupation	Poet essayist travel writer translator educator
Education	Reed College (BA) Indiana University, Bloomington
Period	1950–present
Literary movement	San Francisco Renaissance, Beat Generation
Notable works	Turtle Island, 1974; The Real Work, 1980; A Place in Space, 1995; Mountains and Rivers Without End, 1996
Notable awards	Pulitzer Prize for poetry, 1975; American Book Award, 1984; Bollingen Prize for Poetry, 1997; John Hay Award for Nature Writing, 1997; Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize, 2008

Gary Snyder (born May 8, 1930) is an American poet, writer, teacher, and environmental activist. He is known for his deep connection to nature and his interest in Buddhist ideas. Snyder's early poems were part of the Beat Generation and the San Francisco Renaissance. People have called him the "poet of Deep Ecology" because of his strong focus on the environment.

Snyder has won many awards, including a Pulitzer Prize for Poetry and the American Book Award. He has also translated writings from ancient Chinese and modern Japanese. For many years, Snyder taught at the University of California, Davis.

Gary Snyder's Life

Growing Up

Gary Snyder was born in San Francisco, California, in 1930. His family faced tough times during the Great Depression. When he was two, they moved to King County, Washington, where they farmed.

At age seven, Snyder had an accident that kept him in bed for four months. His parents brought him many books from the library. He recalled that this time helped him truly learn to read. He became a very keen reader.

During his childhood in Washington, Snyder learned about the local Native American people. He became interested in their traditions. He also learned about their special connection with nature.

In 1942, his parents divorced. Snyder moved to Portland, Oregon, with his mother and younger sister. His mother worked as a reporter. As a teenager, he attended Lincoln High School. He also worked as a camp counselor. He enjoyed mountain-climbing with a youth group. Climbing remained a hobby for him for many years.

In 1947, he started college at Reed College with a scholarship. There, he met other young poets like Philip Whalen and Lew Welch. He published his first poems in a student magazine. He also worked as a seaman to experience other cultures.

Snyder studied folklore on the Warm Springs Indian Reservation in Oregon. He graduated in 1951 with degrees in anthropology and literature. His college paper looked at a myth from the Haida people. He spent summers working as a timber scaler at Warm Springs. This experience inspired some of his early poems. He also learned about basic Buddhist ideas.

He briefly studied anthropology at Indiana University. He also began practicing Zen meditation on his own. He soon left to become a poet in San Francisco. For two summers, he worked as a fire lookout in the North Cascades in Washington. This work also influenced his writing.

The Beat Generation

Back in San Francisco, Snyder lived with Philip Whalen. They both became very interested in Zen. In 1953, Snyder studied Asian culture and languages at the University of California, Berkeley. He learned about Chinese painting and poetry. He continued to work in forests during summers.

In 1955 and 1956, Snyder lived in a cabin with Jack Kerouac. This time inspired Kerouac's famous novel, The Dharma Bums. Snyder was the model for the main character, Japhy Ryder. Many Beat writers came from cities. Snyder, with his outdoor and manual labor experience, seemed unique to them. Lawrence Ferlinghetti called him the "Thoreau of the Beat Generation."

Snyder met Allen Ginsberg through a recommendation. Then, Ginsberg introduced Snyder and Kerouac. Snyder read his poem "A Berry Feast" at the famous Six Gallery reading in San Francisco in 1955. This event helped the Beat movement become well-known. Snyder's first book of poems, Riprap, came out in 1959. It was based on his experiences as a forest lookout.

Studies in Japan and India

Snyder was very serious about studying Zen. He prepared to go to Japan. In 1955, he received a scholarship for Zen training in Japan. The U.S. government first refused him a passport. But a court ruling changed this policy, and he got his passport.

In Japan, he studied Zen with a Zen abbot. He learned Japanese and practiced meditation. He also became friends with a Zen scholar. In 1955, he formally became a Buddhist.

In 1958, he returned to California. He sailed as a crewman on an oil tanker. He set up a meditation room at his home. He met poet Joanne Kyger, and they later married in 1960.

In 1959, he went back to Japan. He became a student of another Zen master. Snyder and Kyger were married until 1965.

Between 1956 and 1969, Snyder traveled between California and Japan. He studied Zen and worked on translations. He also lived for a time on a small Japanese island. His knowledge of Chinese helped him with Zen studies. He never became a priest, planning to return to the U.S. to share his knowledge.

During these years, he published two poetry collections. These included Myths & Texts (1960) and Six Sections from Mountains and Rivers Without End (1965). Much of his poetry shares his experiences from jobs like logger, fire-lookout, and carpenter.

In the early 1960s, he traveled for six months through India. He went with Kyger, Ginsberg, and Peter Orlovsky. They visited many cities and temples. They also met the Dalai Lama. They discussed Buddhist ideas and practices.

Buddhist Anarchism

In the 1950s, Snyder was part of a movement called "Buddhist anarchism." This idea came from the Beat movement. In 1961, Snyder wrote an essay called "Buddhist Anarchism." He explained how Buddhist ideas of peace and Western ideas of social change could connect. He supported peaceful actions like civil disobedience and pacifism. He also believed in choosing a simple life.

Kitkitdizze Home

In 1966, Snyder and friends bought land in Northern California. In 1970, this land became his home, which he named Kitkitdizze. In 1967, his book The Back Country was published. It included his translations of Japanese poems.

In 1967 and 1968, Snyder spent summers with a group of Japanese people on a small island. They lived off the land, gathering food and fishing. On this island, in 1967, he married Masa Uehara. They had two sons, Kai and Gen. In 1968, they moved to California. They built a house on their land, using ideas from Japanese and Native American architecture.

Later Life and Writings

Snyder continued to publish poetry throughout the 1970s. His poems often reflected his life in the Sierra foothills. They also showed his involvement in the back-to-the-land movement. His 1974 book, Turtle Island, won a Pulitzer Prize. The title comes from a Native American name for North America. His 1983 book, Axe Handles, won an American Book Award.

Snyder also wrote many essays about poetry, culture, and the environment. These were collected in books like Earth House Hold (1969) and The Practice of the Wild (1990). In 1983, his journals from his India trip were published as Passage Through India. These journals showed his wide interests in cultures, nature, and religions.

In 1986, Snyder became a professor at the University of California, Davis. He is now a professor emeritus of English.

Snyder and Masa Uehara divorced in 1989. In 1991, he married Carole Lynn Koda. She was a naturalist and shared his interests in Buddhism and travel. They were married until her death from cancer in 2006.

In 1996, Snyder published the complete Mountains and Rivers Without End. This long poem took him 40 years to write. It celebrates living in a specific place on Earth. In 2004, he published Danger on Peaks, his first new poetry collection in 20 years.

Snyder has received many honors for his work. He won the Bollingen Prize for Poetry in 1997. He also received the John Hay Award for Nature Writing. In 1998, he was the first American to get the Buddhism Transmission Award from Japan. He was also named one of 100 visionaries by Utne Reader for his environmental work.

In 2010, a documentary film called The Practice of the Wild celebrated Snyder's life and work.

Snyder's Work

Poetry Style

Snyder's poems often use everyday language. His style is flexible, and his poems take many different forms. He usually does not use traditional rhymes or meters. His poems show a deep love and respect for nature and ancient cultures. They also explore escaping city life and industry.

Writer Stewart Brand said Snyder's poetry connects life and the planet. This connection is shown with a simple style but with complex meaning. Snyder uses images from nature, like mountains, plants, and animals. These images can feel personal but also universal. He wants readers to feel connected to nature on many levels.

Snyder believes his connection to nature came from his interest in Native Americans. He feels their ways of life match his own. He has also found similar ideas in Buddhist practices. He admires writers like D. H. Lawrence and ancient Chinese poets. He also liked William Carlos Williams and Robinson Jeffers. While Jeffers valued nature over humans, Snyder sees humans as part of nature.

Snyder often explores how nature and human culture can be more connected. He believes people need to think about very long timescales. This helps them understand the impact of their actions.

In 2004, Snyder received an award for haiku poetry. He said that traditional songs, Native American poems, and Chinese poetry deeply influenced him.

Connecting with Nature

Snyder is one of the writers who challenged old ideas about early peoples. These ideas often saw them as simple or violent. In the 1960s, Snyder developed a "neo-tribalist" view. This idea suggests a positive future where people live more like ancient tribes.

Todd Ensign says Snyder's ideas mix old tribal beliefs, philosophy, and nature with politics. This creates his own type of environmentalism. Snyder does not see nature and humans as separate. Instead, he writes from many viewpoints. He wants to bring about change by showing the environmental problems we face today.

The Beat Connection

Snyder is often seen as part of the Beat Generation writers. He read at the famous Six Gallery event. He was also a main character in Kerouac's novel The Dharma Bums. Some critics say his link to the Beats is sometimes overemphasized. They suggest he is more part of the San Francisco Renaissance. This group developed on its own.

Snyder himself has some thoughts about the "Beat" label. He often uses "we" and "us" when talking about the group. He said that the original group shared ideas and a vision. Later, they came together again on environmental concerns. They also shared similar ideas about poetry and Buddhist views of human nature.

Snyder also said that "Beat" is best for a smaller group around Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac. He feels many others, including himself, belong to the San Francisco Renaissance. However, he added that "Beat" can also mean a certain state of mind. He admitted he was in that mindset for a while.

See also

In Spanish: Gary Snyder para niños