Lives of the Poets Paperback - 2000
by Michael Schmidt
- Used
- Good
- Paperback
In this National Book Critics Circle Award Finalist, the author connects the lives and works of more than 300 poets over the last 700 years, revealing how each poet has transformed a "common language of poetry".
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Details
- Title Lives of the Poets
- Author Michael Schmidt
- Binding Paperback
- Edition Reprint
- Condition Used - Good
- Pages 992
- Volumes 1
- Language ENG
- Publisher Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, New York, New York, U.S.A.
- Date 2000
- Features Bibliography, Index
- Bookseller's Inventory # G0375706046I3N00
- ISBN 9780375706042 / 0375706046
- Weight 1.79 lbs (0.81 kg)
- Dimensions 7.92 x 5.26 x 1.73 in (20.12 x 13.36 x 4.39 cm)
- Library of Congress subjects English poetry - History and criticism, American poetry - History and criticism
- Library of Congress Catalog Number 98051913
- Dewey Decimal Code 821.009
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Summary
A dazzling account of the entire history of poetry in the English language -- from the fourteenth century to the present -- by one of the most intelligent and passionate critics in the field. Setting out to write his own homage to Samuel Johnson's legendary Lives of the English Poets of more than two hundred years ago, Michael Schmidt introduces us to the world tradition of poets who have written in English. From the rustic rhythms of Piers Plowman to today's postmodernists, from fifteenth-century Scotland to the contemporary Caribbean, Schmidt explores the lives and creations of more than three hundred poets, discussing their best (and sometimes worst) poems, their triumphs and tragedies, their individual genius. Here is the shared universe and work of so many great poets, including Chaucer, Donne, Blake, Behn, Burns, Wordsworth, Whitman, Dickinson, Rossetti, Yeats, Stevens, Lowell, Bishop, Ginsberg, Rich and Heaney, to name but a few. Schmidt also embraces the extraordinary poetry now emerging from Australia, New Zealand, India and other countries, and shows how these varied landscapes and cultures make their contributions to our common language. Tracing the themes and achievements of each poet's work, Schmidt demonstrates with wit and erudition how poets overshadow and inspire one another across the centuries. En route, he champions some unjustly neglected voices and outlines the ways in which history and politics intervene to shape (or sometimes misshape) the poetic imagination. With infectious enthusiasm and avoiding all fashionable jargon, Schmidt speaks unapologetically for a common language -- the language of poetry, which unites people across continents and across the ages. For anyone who has ever been moved by a poem, a rich and important book. From the Hardcover edition.
From the publisher
From the jacket flap
National Book Critics Circle Award Finalist
In this stunning volume of epic breadth, Michael Schmidt connects the lives and works of more than 300 poets over the last 700 years--spanning distant shores from Scotland to Australia to the Caribbean, all sharing the English language.
Schmidt reveals how each poet has transformed "a common language of poetry" into the rustic rhythms and elegiac ballads, love sonnets, and experimental postmodern verse that make up our lyrical canon.
A comprehensive guided tour that is lively and always accessible, Lives of the Poets illuminates our most transcendent literary tradition.
In this stunning volume of epic breadth, Michael Schmidt connects the lives and works of more than 300 poets over the last 700 years--spanning distant shores from Scotland to Australia to the Caribbean, all sharing the English language.
Schmidt reveals how each poet has transformed "a common language of poetry" into the rustic rhythms and elegiac ballads, love sonnets, and experimental postmodern verse that make up our lyrical canon.
A comprehensive guided tour that is lively and always accessible, Lives of the Poets illuminates our most transcendent literary tradition.