I sometimes wish every long poem could exasperate like Paradise Lost or The Aeneid, since the exasperation of either is … More

How to explain the presence of Baudelaire as a defining presence for modernist poetry in English? He is felt, directly … More

The first time we encounter the parenthetical “(Men sell not such in any town),” we might want to hear the … More

In this series of posts, I proposed to myself to read the best short narrative poems from the nineteenth century. … More

“He was a poet of misconceptions (the title of one of his poems), of failures, of abortive lives and loves, … More

Keats’ “The Eve of St Agnes” places an unusual strain upon Keats’ distinct genius, while also offering it an opportunity … More

“The Rime of the Ancient Mariner,” though it would seem to belie, superbly confirms Coleridge’s critical principle: “nothing can permanently … More

When it is reduced to a formula, Blake’s mythology in the masterpiece Jerusalem conveys one of the most plausible and … More

The contrast between Hopkins and Shelley is so perfect in so many respects—atheist and Jesuit; a seeming see-saw of reputations; … More

Blake’s Milton might have been called, at least as a second title, “The Lark and Wild Thyme,” since these are the objects … More