born Dec. 23, 1926, Madison, Minn., U.S.
U.S. poet and translator.
Bly attended Harvard University and the University of Iowa. In 1958 he founded the magazine The Fifties (later The Sixties ), which published the works of young poets. He helped found American Writers Against the Vietnam War, and he donated his 1968 National Book Award prize money (received for The Light Around the Body ) to a draft resisters' organization. His best-selling Iron John (1990) probed the male psyche, and Bly became the best-known leader of the "men's movement." In 2001 he published The Night Abraham Called to the Stars , poems utilizing the Arabic ghazal form. He is also known for his translations of a wide range of poetry.