Robert Hass '63

Hass, the former Poet Laureate of the United States, remembers an assignment during his sophomore year to watch birds at Lake LaSalle. It defined his future career, combining his poetic imagination with a love of nature.

“One of the first things I did was go out to the lake, lift a pair of binoculars and see a Caspian tern, this immense white bird, great fisher of the bird species, sail over the lake, open its wings like a paraclete and plunge into the lake and come up with a fish. It was just a moment of heart-stopping beauty.”