Robert Duncan

Robert Duncan 1919-88, American poet, b. Oakland, Calif. He was a leading poet of the San Francisco renaissance during the late 1940s. His lyric style contains private allusions, gaps in syntax, and individualistic spellings. Among his themes are the search for love and the decline of faith in the supernatural. His volumes of poetry include The Opening of the Field (1960), Bending the Bow (1968), Derivations (1970), Groundwork I: Before the War (1984), and Groundwork II: In the Dark (1987).

Bibliography: See study ed. by R. Bertholf and I. Reid (1979).

Duncan, [Robert] Todd (1903–98), singer and actor. The African‐American performer was born in Danville, Kentucky. His Broadway appearances were rare but always memorable. Duncan was the original Porgy in Porgy and Bess (1935) and later appeared as the Lawd's General in Cabin in the Sky (1940) and the minister Stephen Kumalo in Lost in the Stars (1949).

Duncan, Robert [Edward] (1919–88),poet associated with the San Francisco Bay area, studied at the University of California and taught at Black Mountain College. Influenced by Pound and holding to the belief of Charles Olson in an “open field” of composition in which a poem not only treats a theme but picks up associations of the moment of composition, Duncan's writing tends to be rhapsodic and orphic. His ongoing Passages relate to Pound's Cantos and Olson's Maximus poems. Duncan's collections include Heavenly City, Earthly City (1947); Medieval Scenes (1950); Letters (1958), containing poetry and prose; The Opening of the Field (1960); Roots and Branches (1964); The Years as Catches (1966), his early poems; Passages 22–27 (1966), and Bending the Bow (1968). Faust Foutou (1960) and Medea at Kolchis (1965) are plays. Later works include A Paris Visit (1985), poems; Fictive Certainties (1985), essays; and Ground Work II: In the Dark (1987), a longer collection of poetry.