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
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Page 66
... human lot or of human behavior . One of his poems ends by saying , " Not everything that happens / Is a learning experience . Maybe nothing is . " And the man who had flown so many bomb- ing missions over Japan could write , " High ...
... human lot or of human behavior . One of his poems ends by saying , " Not everything that happens / Is a learning experience . Maybe nothing is . " And the man who had flown so many bomb- ing missions over Japan could write , " High ...
Page 213
... human lover than the natural beauty which is the god's symbolic vestment . Despite its moments of rapture , The Beloved Stranger is a painful book concerned with the emotional predicaments of ideal love : human attachment does not ...
... human lover than the natural beauty which is the god's symbolic vestment . Despite its moments of rapture , The Beloved Stranger is a painful book concerned with the emotional predicaments of ideal love : human attachment does not ...
Page 221
... human grief . What no single good translation can convey to us is the cumulative force , in such poetry as Li Po's , of great images of the natural world . I do not know whether , in the above farewell poem , the mountain and river of ...
... human grief . What no single good translation can convey to us is the cumulative force , in such poetry as Li Po's , of great images of the natural world . I do not know whether , in the above farewell poem , the mountain and river 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