Archie Randolph Ammons was an acclaimed American poet who won the National Book Award for Poetry in both 1973 and 1993. His work often explored themes of nature, science, and the human relationship with the sublime and the mundane. Ammons was known for his long, unpunctuated lines and his use of colloquial language, which made his complex philosophical inquiries accessible. He taught for many years at Cornell University, influencing a generation of writers while producing a prolific body of work.