Overview Gary Snyder (1930-) graduated from Reed College in 1951 along with Phil Whalen ('51) and Lew Welch ('50) who all became well-known "Beat Poets". Snyder studied Chinese and Japanese languages at Berkeley, worked for 8 years as a forest lookout, trail crewman, logger, and seaman, and lived in Japan for almost a decade between 1956 and 1968, marrying there while studying Zen Buddhist texts and Far Eastern culture. Author of many books of poetry and prose, he has taught at the University of...