View source for Robert Hillyer

{{Short description|American poet (1895–1961)}}
{{Infobox writer
| name             = Robert Hillyer
| image            = Robert Hillyer.jpg
| birth_name       = Robert Silliman Hillyer
| birth_date       = {{Birth date|1895|06|03}}
| birth_place      = [[East Orange, New Jersey]], US
| death_date       = {{Death date and age|1961|12|24|1895|06|03}}
| death_place      = [[Wilmington, Delaware]], US
| occupation       = poet, writer, university faculty
| education        = [[Harvard University]] ([[Bachelor of Arts|BA]])
| movement         = [[Harvard Aesthetes]]
| notable_works    = ''The Collected Verse of Robert Hillyer''<br />''A Letter to Robert Frost and Others''
| awards           = [[Pulitzer Prize in Poetry]], 1934
}}
'''Robert Silliman Hillyer''' (June 3, 1895 – December 24, 1961) was an American [[poet]] and professor of English literature.<ref name="Vindicator obit">{{cite news |date=December 31, 1961 |title=Robert Hillyer, Pulitzer Poet |newspaper=The Youngstown Vindicator |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=BC1AAAAAIBAJ&sjid=91gMAAAAIBAJ&dq=robert%20hillyer%20dies&pg=1171%2C3819990 |accessdate=December 26, 2012}}</ref> He won a [[Pulitzer Prize for Poetry|Pulitzer Prize]] for poetry in 1934.<ref name="Vindicator obit" />

== Early life ==
Hillyer was born in [[East Orange, New Jersey]], to an old Connecticut family.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=2022-05-16 |title=Robert Hillyer |url=https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/robert-hillyer |access-date=2022-05-17 |website=Poetry Foundation |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite web |date=2006-06-28 |title=Robert Hillyer |url=http://www.harvardsquarelibrary.org/poets/hillyer.php |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060628130752/http://www.harvardsquarelibrary.org/poets/hillyer.php |archive-date=June 28, 2006 |access-date=2022-05-17 |website=Poets of Cambridge, U.S.A. |publisher=Harvard Square Library}}</ref> He attended [[Kent School]] in [[Kent, Connecticut]]. After high school, he attended [[Harvard University]], graduating [[cum laude]] in 1917.<ref name="Vindicator obit" /> While there, he was the editor of the literary magazine ''[[The Harvard Advocate]], and was'' affiliated with the group known as the [[Harvard Aesthetes]].<ref name=":0" />

When [[World War I]] began, he went to [[France]] and volunteered for the [[American Volunteer Motor Ambulance Corps|Norton-Harjes Ambulance Corps]], along with Harvard classmate [[John Dos Passos]].<ref name="Vindicator obit" /><ref name=":0" /> Once the United States entered the war, he joined the American forces.<ref name="Vindicator obit" /> After serving as an ambulance driver, Hillyer later returned to France to work in the US Ordnance Department.<ref name="hillyer-biography">{{cite web |last1=Nagle |first1=Robert |title=Biographical Sketch of Robert Hillyer |url=https://www.personvillepress.com/11378h/random/hillyer/weboutput/OEBPS/hillyer-biography.xhtml |website=My Heart For Hostage (Special Critical Edition) |publisher=Personville Press |access-date=3 November 2022}}</ref> After the Armistice, Hillyer worked as a military courier for the 1919 peace conference in Paris. For a while Hillyer and [[John Dos Passos]] shared a flat in Paris and even collaborated on an unpublished novel which they called "Great Novel" (or "G.N.", or "Seven Times round the Walls of Jericho"). Eventually the novel was abandoned in 1921 even though Dos Passos  said that Hillyer's contributions had "genuineness" and "more ''tone'' than mine."

== Career ==

=== Academic ===
Hillyer became a professor of English at [[Harvard University]] in 1919.<ref name="Vindicator obit" /><ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /> In the late 1920s, he taught at [[Trinity College (Connecticut)|Trinity College]] and was made a member of the Epsilon chapter of the literary fraternity [[St. Anthony Hall]] in 1927.

From 1937 to 1944, he was named to the [[Boylston Professorship of Rhetoric and Oratory]] at Harvard.<ref name=":0" /> From 1948 to 1951 Hillyer was a visiting [[professor]] at [[Kenyon College]].<ref name="Vindicator obit" /> He also taught at the [[University of Delaware]] from 1952 until his death.<ref name="Vindicator obit" /> While at Delaware Hillyer did various regular poetry readings between 1953 and 1960 which were recorded and are now available for listening through the university's archives.<ref>[https://library.udel.edu/special/findaids/view?docId=ead/mss0696.xml;tab=content#seriesi MSS 0696 - University of Delaware audio recordings of poetry readings ], accessed Feb 26 2021</ref>

Over his academic life, Hillyer taught a number of writers (and poets)  who later became well-known such as [[Theodore Roethke]],<ref name="roethke">{{cite web |title=Entry for Theodore Roethke |url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/people/literature-and-arts/american-literature-biographies/theodore-roethke |website=Encyclopedia.com |publisher=Cengage |access-date=30 July 2022}}</ref> [[James Gould Cozzens]],<ref>{{cite book |last1=McDonald |first1=Roxanne |title="Robert Hillyer" (Entry) |date=2021 |publisher=Salem Press Biographical Encyclopedia}}</ref> [[Howard Nemerov]],  [[James Agee]], [[Norman Mailer]], [[Robert Fitzgerald]] and  [[John Simon (critic)|John Simon]].<ref name="blazek">{{cite book |last1=Blazek |first1=William |title=Norton-Harjes Ambulance Corps and American Literature of World War 1 (Dissertation) |date=1986 |location=University of Aberdeen |page=292}}</ref>

=== Poet ===
In 1919, Hillyer described himself as “a conservative and religious poet in a radical and blasphemous age."<ref name=":1" /> In 1934, he received a [[Pulitzer Prize for Poetry]] for his book ''The Collected Verse of Robert Hillyer''.<ref name="Vindicator obit" /><ref name=":0" /> His work is in meter and often rhyme and he tended to write about death, love and nature.<ref name="Vindicator obit" /> He is known for his sonnets and for poems such as "Theme and Variations" (on his war experiences) and the light "Letter to Robert Frost."

He became president of the [[Conservative Poetry Society of America.]]<ref name=":1" /> In this capacity, he attacked [[modernist poets]] such as [[T. S. Eliot]] and [[Ezra Pound]].<ref name=":1" />

==Awards and honors==
* [[Pulitzer Prize for Poetry]] for "Collected Verse" in 1934.<ref name=":1" />
* He was named to the [[Boylston Professorship of Rhetoric and Oratory]] at Harvard University in 1937.<ref name=":0" />
* His papers are housed at [[Syracuse University]].<ref name=":1" />

==Works==

===Poetry===
* ''Pre-Pulitzer Poetry'' (Ebook, Personville Press, 2023). Includes the full text of 6 poetry books published by Hillyer before winning the Pulitzer Prize.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Nagle |first1=Robert |title=Book Announcement: Pre-Pulitzer Poetry |url=https://www.imaginaryplanet.net/weblogs/idiotprogrammer/2024/01/pre-pulitzer-poetry-by-robert-hillyer-ebook/ |website=Idiotprogrammer: Texas Literary Blog |date=3 January 2024 |publisher=Personville Press |access-date=12 April 2024}}</ref>  
* ''The Collected Poems'' (Alfred Knopf, 1961)<ref name="Vindicator obit" />
* ''[[iarchive:relicotherpoems00hill|The Relic & Other Poems]]'' (Knopf, 1957).<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hillyer |first=Robert |url=http://archive.org/details/relicotherpoems00hill |title=The relic & other poems |date=1957 |publisher=New York, Knopf |others=Internet Archive}}</ref>
* ''The Suburb by the Sea: New Poems'' (Knopf, 1952)<ref name=":0" />
* ''The Death of Captain Nemo: A Narrative Poem'' (A.A. Knopf, 1949)<ref name="Vindicator obit" /><ref name=":0" />
* ''Poems for Music, 1917–1947''. (1947)<ref name="Vindicator obit" />
* ''Pattern of a Day'' (1940)<ref name=":0" />
* ''In a Time of Mistrust'' (1939)<ref name=":0" />
* ''A Letter to Robert Frost and Others (1937)''.<ref name=":0" />
* ''[[iarchive:collectedverseof0000hill|The Collected Verse of Robert Hillyer]]''. (A. A. Knoft, 1933)<ref name=":0" />
* ''[[iarchive:gatesofcompasspo0000hill|The Gates of the Compass: A Poem in Four Parts Together with Twenty-Two Shorter Pieces]]'' (Viking Press, 1930)<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hillyer |first=Robert |url=http://archive.org/details/gatesofcompasspo0000hill |title=The gates of the compass : a poem in four parts together with twenty-two shorter pieces |date=1930 |publisher=New York : Viking Press |others=Internet Archive}}</ref>
* ''[[iarchive:seventhhill0000hill|The Seventh Hill]]'' (Viking Press, 1928)<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hillyer |first=Robert |url=http://archive.org/details/seventhhill0000hill |title=The seventh hill |date=1928 |publisher=New York : Viking Press |others=Internet Archive}}</ref>
* ''The Halt in the Garden'' (Elkin Matthews,1925)<ref name=":0" />
* ''The Coming Forth by Day: An Anthology of Poems from the Egyptian Book of the Dead'' (B.J. Brimmer Company, 1923)<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Coming Forth By Day – Black's Fine Books & Manuscripts |url=https://blacksbooks.ca/product/the-coming-forth-by-day/ |access-date=2022-05-17 |language=en-CA}}</ref>
* ''[https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Robert_Hillyer_The_Hills_Give_Promise?id=gXA6AQAAIAAJ Hills Give Promise, a Volume of Lyrics, Together with Carmus: A Symphonic Poem]'' (B.J. Brimmer Company, 1923)<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hillyer |first=Robert |url=https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Robert_Hillyer_The_Hills_Give_Promise?id=gXA6AQAAIAAJ |title=The Hills Give Promise: A Volume of Lyrics, Together with Carmus: a Symphonic Poem |date=1923 |publisher=B. J. Brimmer Company |language=en |via=Google Play}}</ref>
* ''[[iarchive:bub gb ZAoPAAAAIAAJ|Alchemy: A Symphonic Poem]]'' (Brentano's, 1920)<ref name=":0" />
* ''[[iarchive:bub gb xKSgypX96UC|The Five Books of Youth]]'' (Brentano's, 1920)<ref name=":0" />
* [[iarchive:sonnetsandother00hillgoog|Sonnets and Other Lyrics]] (Harvard University Press, 1917)<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" />
* ''[[iarchive:eight harvard poets 1401 librivox|Eight Harvard Poets]]'' (1917), which included works by [[E. E. Cummings]] and [[John Dos Passos]]<ref name=":0" />

===Novels===
* ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=7RAyAAAAIAAJ Riverhead]'' (Alfred Knopf, 1932)<ref>Hillyer, Robert. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=7RAyAAAAIAAJ Riverhead]''. New York, Alfred A. Knopf, 1932. via Google Books.</ref>
* ''[https://hdl.handle.net/2027/uc1.$b56666 My Heart for Hostage]'' (Random House, 1942)<ref>Hillyer, Robert, 1895-1961. ''[https://hdl.handle.net/2027/uc1.$b56666 My Heart for Hostage]''. New York: Random House, 1942. via Hathi Trust.</ref>  In 2022 this novel was digitized and made available for free download by Personville Press.<ref name="free-hostage">{{cite web |title=My Heart for Hostage (Free Novel) |url=https://www.personvillepress.com/11378h/random/hillyer/hillyer4410.html |website=Personville Press website |publisher=Personville Press |access-date=3 November 2022}}</ref>

===Criticism and scholarship===
* [[iarchive:inpursuitofpoetr00hill|''In Pursuit of Poetry'']] (McGraw-Hill, 1960)<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hillyer |first=Robert |url=http://archive.org/details/inpursuitofpoetr00hill |title=In pursuit of poetry |date=1960 |publisher=New York, McGraw-Hill |others=Internet Archive}}</ref>*
* ''[[iarchive:firstprincipleso0000hill|First Principles of Verse]].'' (The Writer, Inc., 1938).<ref name="Vindicator obit" />
* ''[[iarchive:somerootsofengli0000hill|Some Roots of English Poetry]]'' (Wheaton College Press, 1933)<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hillyer |first=Robert |url=http://archive.org/details/somerootsofengli0000hill |title=Some roots of English poetry |date=1933 |publisher=Norton, Mass. : Wheaton College Press |others=Internet Archive}}</ref>

===Editor and/or translator===
* {{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g3cRAAAAYAAJ&q=robert+hillyer |title=A Book of Danish Verse: Translated in the Original Meters |author=Oluf Friis |others=Translators Samuel Foster Damon, Robert Hillyer |publisher=The American-Scandinavian Foundation |year=1922}}<ref name=":1" />
* Kahlil Gibran. ''A Tear and a Smile''.<ref>{{Cite web |title=A Tear And A Smile by Kahlil Gibran |url=https://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks05/0500541h.html |access-date=2022-05-17 |website=gutenberg.net.au}}</ref> Introduction by Robert Hillyer. (A. A. Knopf, 1959).<ref>Gibran, Kahlil. 1965. ''[http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/977393365 A tear and a smile.] Translated from Arabic by H.M. Nahmad, with an introduction by Robert Hillyer''. New York: Knopf.</ref>
* ''Eight More Harvard Poets''. Edited by Samuel Foster Damon and Robert Hillyer. (Brentano, 1923)<ref>Damon, S. Foster, Robert Hillyer, Dorian Abbott, Norman Cabot, Grant Code, Malcolm Cowley, Jack Mereten, Joel T. Rogers, Royall H. Snow, and John Brooks. 1923. ''[http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1318413 Eight more Harvard poets]''.</ref>
* [https://archive.org/details/completepoetryse0000donn%20q7j5/mode/2up Complete Poetry and Selected Prose of John Donne and The Complete Poetry of William Blake], Introduction by Robert Hillyer, Random House: New York,  1941. pages xv-lv.

== Personal ==
In 1926, he married Dorothy Hancock Tilton.<ref name=":1" /> They had one son, but divorced in 1943.<ref name=":1" />

He was 66 when he died in [[Wilmington, Delaware]].<ref name="Vindicator obit" />

==See also==
*[[List of ambulance drivers during World War I]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
{{wikisource|works=or}}
* Robert Hillyer: ''[[iarchive:lp recordings-of-poets-reading-their-own-poem robert-hillyer|Recordings of Poets Reading their Own Poems]]''
* {{Librivox author |id=3016}}
* [https://library.udel.edu/special/findaids/view?docId=ead/mss0696.xml;tab=content#seriesi  MSS 0696 - University of Delaware audio recordings of poetry readings]. Audio of various poetry readings Hillyer gave between 1953 and 1960. 
* [https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/1795 Digital Works by Robert Hillyer on Project Gutenberg]
{{PulitzerPrize PoetryAuthors 1922–1950}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hillyer, Robert}}
[[Category:1895 births]]
[[Category:1961 deaths]]
[[Category:Kent School alumni]]
[[Category:Harvard University alumni]]
[[Category:Harvard Advocate alumni]]
[[Category:American Field Service personnel of World War I]]
[[Category:20th-century American poets]]
[[Category:Danish–English translators]]
[[Category:20th-century American translators]]
[[Category:Harvard University faculty]]
[[Category:Trinity College (Connecticut) faculty]]
[[Category:St. Anthony Hall]]
[[Category:Pulitzer Prize for Poetry winners]]
[[Category:Kenyon College faculty]]
[[Category:University of Delaware faculty]]
[[Category:Writers from East Orange, New Jersey]]