Re Verse: Essays on Poetry and Poets [Paperback]

David R. Slavitt will tell you that he does not believe in literary criticism so much as in remarks, which are more portable and, often, more enlightening. In this witty and unusual work, he remarks upon the life of a poet in the second half of the twentieth century, how it was--and how it is--to be an American writer.

Combining personal reminiscence with deft literary analysis, incisive biographical sketches, and, sometimes, literary gossip, these essays give new perspectives on the famous--such as Harold Bloom, Robert Penn Warren, Robert Frost, and Stephen Spender--and recover the charms of the near-forgotten--such as Dudley Fitts, Winfield Townley Scott, Merrill Moore and John Hall Wheelock. Slavitt writes with self-deprecating humor of his own literary education, and uses his impressive experience and erudition to illuminate the whims of poetic influence, passion, and reputation. With a refreshing honesty and considerable poise, he gives readers an enlightening view of the vast and ever-changing literary universe.

DAVID R. SLAVITT is a poet, novelist, critic, and translator, and has written more than eighty books. His most recent novel isAspects of the Novel(Catbird Press, 2003) and his new collection of poems is forthcoming from Louisiana State University Press. He is also the translator ofThe Regretsby Joachim du Bellay (2004) andSonnets of Love and Deathby Jean de Sponde (2001), both published by Northwestern University Press.

A Master's Essay
Dr. Moore
Winfield Townley Scott
John Donne's An Anatomy of the World
The Countess of Pembroke
Harold Bloom and the Decline of Civility
Robert Penn Warren
Poetic Justice
John Hall Wheelock
Adrien Stoutenburg
Ole Fred
Thomas McAfee
Richard Elman
So There Were These Two Jews: The Poetry of Irving Feldman
The Poetry of Grief

InRe Verse,David Slavitt offers a warmly personal and sharp-wl37