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. |
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Page 14
... never be severed from hers , or from the divine love and beauty which her soul communicates . Annabel Lee , then , is not only a kinswoman of the angels , but a mediatory spirit like Nesace or the Lady Ligeia . Her story , in fact , is ...
... never be severed from hers , or from the divine love and beauty which her soul communicates . Annabel Lee , then , is not only a kinswoman of the angels , but a mediatory spirit like Nesace or the Lady Ligeia . Her story , in fact , is ...
Page 27
... never ceased to love . As a senior at Bowdoin College he developed a fervent aspiration toward " future emi- nence in literature , " and events promptly conspired to give him his wish . Bowdoin's trustees preserved him from the study of ...
... never ceased to love . As a senior at Bowdoin College he developed a fervent aspiration toward " future emi- nence in literature , " and events promptly conspired to give him his wish . Bowdoin's trustees preserved him from the study of ...
Page 158
... never appeared behind the pine grove before . In a deep , oracular voice , which seemed to be speaking close to my ear , the rider said , " Those are the Old Catica Mountains . " I woke up with a feeling of awe , but with no ...
... never appeared behind the pine grove before . In a deep , oracular voice , which seemed to be speaking close to my ear , the rider said , " Those are the Old Catica Mountains . " I woke up with a feeling of awe , but with no ...
Contents
Poe and the Art of Suggestion | 7 |
Longfellow | 26 |
The Persistence of Riddles | 32 |
Copyright | |
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Common terms and phrases
aesthetic American Annabel Lee answer anthology Arvin asked beauty begins Beloved Stranger bird Chapala Chinese Chinese poetry couplets D. H. Lawrence dark death dream Dupin Eleonora Elizabeth Bishop English enigma essay experience fact feel forever Grenstone Poems hear heart heaven Il Penseroso imaginative Indian Earth Israfel Jade Mountain John John Ciardi kind L'Allegro language Ligeia lines literary living Longfellow look lyric mean memory metaphor Milton's mind Misanthrope Molière Molière's narrator nature never once passion Penseroso plays pleasure Poe's poem poem's poet poet's poetic poetry prose reader rhyme Richard Wilbur riddle RW Yes seems sense sheep Song sonnet sort soul sound speaks Spectra spirit stanza story sure Sylvia Symphosius Tartuffe Tell-Tale Heart tells Tennyson things thought tions translation trees Ulysses verse voice W. H. Auden Whitman winter Witter Bynner words writing wrote