The Catbird's Song: Prose Pieces, 1963-1995The Catbird's Song is a selection of prose pieces, on a variety of topics, by one of the most distinguished poets and translators of our times, Richard Wilbur. These lectures, letters, reviews, addresses, prefaces, and interviews-what Wilbur calls the "prose by-products of a poet's life"-not only reveal the ideas and concerns that inform his remarkable oeuvre but also offer fresh takes on the works and lives of poets we thought we knew, poets we ought to know, and much more. Here, then, are his appreciations of Poe, Milton, Tennyson, and Longfellow; paeans to his contemporaries Elizabeth Bishop, Mae Swenson, and John Ciardi; an introduction to the work of the neglected poet Witter Bynner; his comments on some of his own poems; and thoughts on the art of translation. Throughout all, Wilbur's voice resonates with clarity, reason, and authority. |
From inside the book
Results 1-3 of 21
Page 222
... earth . In the Chapala section of Indian Earth he therefore presented , through eight- line shih poems , the Mexican Indian in a Chinese key . All of this , though nowhere insistently argued , is quite explicit . The musicians of ...
... earth . In the Chapala section of Indian Earth he therefore presented , through eight- line shih poems , the Mexican Indian in a Chinese key . All of this , though nowhere insistently argued , is quite explicit . The musicians of ...
Page 232
... earth's counter - music in line 5. A final effect of the poem's form is visual , or , as we would put it now , " concrete . " In a poem which sees so broadly and so deeply , and which looks across " field upon field , " there is a ...
... earth's counter - music in line 5. A final effect of the poem's form is visual , or , as we would put it now , " concrete . " In a poem which sees so broadly and so deeply , and which looks across " field upon field , " there is a ...
Page 239
... Earth , and governs much of Bynner's superior writing thereafter . To show how conscious of all this Bynner was , let me quote him once more , this time from a letter to his friend Ficke : I know that there is in the finest poetry of ...
... Earth , and governs much of Bynner's superior writing thereafter . To show how conscious of all this Bynner was , let me quote him once more , this time from a letter to his friend Ficke : I know that there is in the finest poetry of ...
Contents
Poe and the Art of Suggestion | 7 |
Longfellow | 26 |
The Persistence of Riddles | 32 |
Copyright | |
7 other sections not shown
Common terms and phrases
American answer appear asked beauty become begins bird Bynner called clear close continually course critic dark death described dream Earth effect Eleonora English enigma example experience expression fact feel figure final give given hand hear heart heaven human idea imaginative John kind knowledge language later leaves less letter light lines living look lyric matter mean memory mind nature never notes object once passion perhaps plays pleasure Poe's poem poet poet's poetic poetry possible present questions reader reason rhyme riddle seems seen sense Song sort soul sound speaks spirit story suggestion sure tells things thought translation trees turn Ulysses verse voice whole wish writing written wrote