250. (Jean Racine)

I write as a novice, an initiate into Racine’s imaginative world, and I enter with just enough French to feel … More

241. (Davie, Auerbach, Arnold)

A friend of mine pointed out that semi-recent posts on decorum are a bit of a muddle and that I … More

232. (John Berryman)

Although it would be wrong to read John Berryman’s Dream Songs as a poem about the madness of a nation, … More

227. (Alfred Lord Tennyson)

The Victorians, who were much taken with “progress,” were also, unsurprisingly, devoted to imagining its opposite: being left behind. In … More

224. (Emily Dickinson)

In this third and last in a series of posts on Emily Dickinson and decorum, I’ll try to bring decorum … More

223. (Emily Dickinson)

To begin with recapitulation and self-remonstration: poetry must, in F.H. Bradley’s persuasive formulation, get within the judgment the condition of … More

222. (Emily Dickinson)

This post is the second of a series of evolving sketches about “decorum” in poetry. This is the messiest of … More

221. (John Keats)

This post is the first in a series of evolving sketches on “decorum” in poetry; it leads into the next … More

103. (Anthony Hecht)

They are almost “conversation” poems, but they offer too many explanations, the sorts of explanations of who the speaker is, … More