WILLIAM EDGAR STAFFORD was born in Hutchinson, Kansas on January 17, 1914, to parents who listened to their children’s ideas. They loved to read, and would "luxuriate in stories." His connection and love for the earth are evident in his writings. While in high school, William went on what he described as an Indian vision quest. Of this experience he said, "That encounter with the size and serenity of the earth and its neighbors in the sky has never left me. The earth was my home; I would never feel lost while it held me." He graduated from high school in the town of Liberal in 1933. After attending junior college, he received a B.A. from the University of Kansas in 1937. He was drafted into the United States armed forces in 1941, while pursuing his master's degree at the University of Kansas, when he became a conscientious objector. As a registered pacifist, he performed alternative service from 1942 to 1946 in the civilian public service camps, which consisted of forestry and soil conservation work in Arkansas, California, and Illinois for $2.50 per week.

His poetry was strongly influenced by both the people and the plains region of his youth and young adulthood. But perhaps his greatest influence came from his parents. This closeness, and his decision to be a conscientious objector during the Second World War, place him outside the turbulent waters of the majority of the contemporary literary figures of that time, the tragic generation of American poets whose work is described as the "poetry of desperation".

A prolific writer, Stafford would write daily. He was known for his quiet daily ritual of writing and his focus on the ordinary. The gentle quotidian style of his poetry has been compared to Robert Frost. His poems are typically short and are often deceptively simple, focusing on the earthy, accessible details appropriate to a specific locality, revealing a deeply distinctive vision. He describes his writing time as, "a confirming, satisfying activity...almost devotional."

Stafford's poetry is a glimpse into life, not long and drawn out visions. Asked about what others think of us: "...give them things, and then disappear." That is the story of his life-- give, exit: "smoke's way." Because Stafford was what he preached, the impact of his gentleness and calm would be hard to overestimate. That he was generous and kind is witnessed by everyone who met him. This ordinariness teases us out of thought; while we are thoughtless, the "second language" of poetry speaks to us. Stafford has referred to an unspoken tongue that lives underneath the words of poetry. This second language is beyond the poet's control, but we can define a poet as someone who speaks it. The best poets also write without knowing everything that they are up to, trusting in the second language's continual present "hum of implication".

Stafford received degrees from the University of Kansas and a PhD. from the University of Iowa. In 1948 he began teaching at Lewis & Clark College where he would remain until his retirement in 1988. One of the most striking features of his career is that he began publishing his poetry only later in life. His first book of poetry, Traveling Through the Dark, was published in 1960 when he was forty-six, and won the National Book Award in 1963.Through the course of his life, he went on to publish 50 more books. While his poetry has been honored with a National Book Award and the highest praise from fellow poets, his role as teacher has been equally influential as well as important. Through essays, interviews and world-wide travel, his process-oriented writing method has become widely known. His frequent utterance, "lower your standards," has helped many writers sustain the ongoing nature of a writing life and overcome debilitating self-criticism.

Of his work he said, "I keep following this sort of hidden river of my life...whatever the topic or impulse which comes, I follow it along trustingly." He died at his home in Lake Oswego, Oregon on August 28, 1993. The poem he’d written that morning included the line: "Be ready for what God sends."