Winner, 1997 National Book Award for Poetry
A contemporary of Berryman, Bishop, and Lowell, William Meredith shared neither the bohemian excesses of the Beats nor the exhibitionist excesses of the confessional poets. Rather, he was known as a poet whose unadorned, formal verse marked him as a singular voice.Effort at Speech,the definitive collection of Meredith's life work, contains poems chosen by the author from throughout his career, as well as several new works and an essay by Michael Collier placing Meredith in his times.
A contemporary of Berryman, Bishop, and Lowell, William Meredith shared neither the bohemian excesses of the Beats nor the exhibitionist excesses of the "confessional" poets. Rather, he was known as a poet whose unadorned, formal verse marked him as a singular voice. Effort at Speech, the definitive collection of Meredith's life work, contains poems chosen by the author from throughout his career, as well as several new works and an essay by Michael Collier placing Meredith in his times.
William Morris Meredith, Jr. (January 9, 1919 – May 30, 2007) was an American poet and educator. He was Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 1978 to 1980.
Foreword
From Love Letter from an Impossible Land (1944)
A Kodiak Poem
In Memoriam Stratton Christensen
Navy Field
Myself, Rousseau, and a Few Others
A Metaphysical Sonnet
Winter Song
Quartet in F Major
Notes for an Elegy
June: Dutch Harbor
For Air Heroes
Airman's Virtue
Ten-Day Leave
From Ships and Other Figures (1948)
Envoi
Carrier
Transport
Battlewagon
'Do Not Embrace Your Mind's New Negro Friend'
A Birthday Exercise
Perhaps the Best Time
In a Copy of Yeats' Poems
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![Effort at Speech: New and Selected Poems [Hardcover]](/itemImage/2/6/7/1/2_5187271.jpg "Effort at Speech: New and Selected Poems [Hardcover]")