In my last post on Stevie Smith, I suggested that the poet writes from a perspective of innocence, translating into … More
Category: 20th and 21st Centuries
364. (Stevie Smith)
It might be tempting to think Stevie Smith is putting on an act; with such a thought, we might be … More
363. (Robert Duncan)
A Poem of Despondencies . We go whatever route to run un- obstructed. A city without seasons may bug … More
362. (T.S. Eliot)
The problem of criticism—and the study of criticism—is what to say about, how to reflect on and make sense of, … More
361. (Geoffrey Hill)
Poem 154 of The Book of Baruch by the Gnostic Justin: . Cinquefoil apple-flowers touch down in grass; early roses … More
358. (William Empson)
Among those brilliant readers and critics, Johnson, Coleridge, Eliot, and Empson, the primary engine of productivity, whether in marginalia, publications, … More
357. (T.S. Eliot)
Approached from the direction of monumentality, The Waste Land calls for the literary historian: the poem is a post-Romantic attempt … More
355. (Robert Lowell)
“My Last Afternoon with Uncle Devereux Winslow” has become one of my favorite poems by Robert Lowell and one that … More
352. (William Empson)
Aristotle, frustrating some, claims that “a life of virtue is a life of flourishing.” The statement can be variously … More
350. (Paule Marshall)
Paule Marshall’s debut novel, Brown Girl, Brownstones is one of the best American novels of the mid-twentieth century. When Marshall … More