Robert Hass

Robert Hass, the former poet laureate of the United States, explores one of Walt Whitman's most iconic poems, Song of Myself — and shares his opinion about why the poem still resonates 155 years after it was written.

The former poet laureate reflects on his brother's passing in the new poem "August Notebook: A Death." The elegy is included in Hass' new collection, The Apple Trees at Olema, which includes material from his first five works — as well as new poems on the art of storytelling and personal relations in a violent world.

Former U.S. Poet Laureate Robert Hass (pronounced like grass) talks about his new book "Poet's Choice: Poems for Everyday Life" published by Ecco Press. It's a collection of Hass' favorite recent poems by other poets. Hass served as Laureate from 1995-1997. He is also the author of "Sun Under Wood," "Human Wishes," "Praise," "Field Guide," and a book of essays titled "Twentieth Century Pleasures," which won the National Book Critics Circle Award. He teaches at the University of California at Berkeley.