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 32
Page 158
... later I feel the same about that comparatively uneventful dream , wherein large and craggy Western forms are glimpsed above a New Jersey farm's horizon . If anyone were to take the first and last syllables of that strange word " Catica ...
... later I feel the same about that comparatively uneventful dream , wherein large and craggy Western forms are glimpsed above a New Jersey farm's horizon . If anyone were to take the first and last syllables of that strange word " Catica ...
Page 206
... later Book of Lyrics ( 1955 ) ; and Bynner was to essay the long poem once more only , in Eden Tree . I have dwelt at some length on his first extended efforts because , for all its shifts and phases , Bynner's later poetry was ...
... later Book of Lyrics ( 1955 ) ; and Bynner was to essay the long poem once more only , in Eden Tree . I have dwelt at some length on his first extended efforts because , for all its shifts and phases , Bynner's later poetry was ...
Page 240
... later , in Book of Lyrics , as an eight - line poem called " The Vessel . ” But it was essential to his mature theory of poetry , and usual in his practice , that any line of verse should be or seem " a moment's thought . " Most serious ...
... later , in Book of Lyrics , as an eight - line poem called " The Vessel . ” But it was essential to his mature theory of poetry , and usual in his practice , that any line of verse should be or seem " a moment's thought . " Most serious ...
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