Robert Duncan was born in Oakland, California. His mother died at his birth and his father was unable to raise him. In 1920 Joseph and Minnehaha Symmes adopted him. Only after his discharge from the army did he take the name Robert Duncan, a composite from his birth name (Edward Howard Duncan) and his adopted name (Robert Edward Symmes). He attended the University of California, Berkeley but never finished. Duncan explored the topic of his own homosexuality and homosexuality in society in his writing.
By Robert Duncan
as if it were a scene made-up by the mind,
that is not mine, but is a made place,
that is mine, it is so near to the heart,
an eternal pasture folded in all thought
so that there is a hall therein
that is...
By Robert Duncan
It’s in the perilous boughs of the tree
out of blue sky the wind
sings loudest surrounding me.
And solitude, a wild solitude
’s reveald, fearfully, high I’d climb
into the shaking uncertainties,
part out of longing, part daring my self,
part to...
