Robert Patrick Dana was born in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1929.
14 Facts About Robert Dana
2.
Robert Dana served in the South Pacific near the end of World War II as a US Navy radio operator, and during lulls in the action found that he loved writing poetry.
3.
Robert Dana then moved to the other side of the state, studying with Robert Lowell and John Berryman at the University of Iowa and the Iowa Writers' Workshop, where he joined a group of noted writers including Donald Justice, Henri Coulette, Jane Cooper, and Philip Levine.
4.
Robert Dana received his master's degree in 1954, and at the age of 25 was promptly hired by Cornell College, Mount Vernon, Iowa; he remains the youngest person ever hired for a tenure-track faculty position there.
5.
Robert Dana taught writing and English literature at Cornell from 1954 to 1994, eventually serving as both Professor of English and Poet-in-Residence.
6.
In 1964, Dana was responsible for the resumption of the publication of The North American Review.
7.
Robert Dana held teaching assignments at a number of other schools, including the University of Florida, Wayne State University, University of Idaho, Wichita State University, Stockholm University, and Beijing University.
8.
Robert Dana published over a dozen collections of his poetry, wrote two prose books and edited a third.
9.
Robert Dana received the Carl Sandburg Medal for Poetry in 1994, a Pushcart Prize in 1996, and the Rainer Maria Rilke Prize for Poetry.
10.
Robert Dana was the recipient of two National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships.
11.
In September 2004, Robert Dana was named poet laureate for the State of Iowa, serving until 2008.
12.
Fellow poet Marvin Bell said that Robert Dana "went about his life and work without getting caught up in the petty rivalries of the poetry world".
13.
Robert Dana had three children from his first marriage: Lori Dana, Arden Dana, and Richard Dana.
14.
Robert Dana answered editing questions about his forthcoming book Paris on the Flats the day before he died of pancreatic cancer at Mercy Hospice in Iowa City at the age of 80.