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 112
... tells his tale , and tells it truly , but as so often in Poe the narrative mode is allegory . For the gnostic or neo - Platonist , the soul's adventure entails an original unity with God , a descent into incarnate life and the ...
... tells his tale , and tells it truly , but as so often in Poe the narrative mode is allegory . For the gnostic or neo - Platonist , the soul's adventure entails an original unity with God , a descent into incarnate life and the ...
Page 203
... tells us in a note that Celia is a real woman , now dead , whom her poet has idealized , gathering “ into her large spirit the beauties of many women , into her words the wisdom of many men , as stars into the one heaven . " This haloed ...
... tells us in a note that Celia is a real woman , now dead , whom her poet has idealized , gathering “ into her large spirit the beauties of many women , into her words the wisdom of many men , as stars into the one heaven . " This haloed ...
Page 231
... tells how , by attunement to cold and desolation , one may achieve “ a mind of winter " and thus enjoy a temporary aesthetic triumph , Bynner's " The Wintry Mind " tells how too long an attunement to winter may prove an emo- tional ...
... tells how , by attunement to cold and desolation , one may achieve “ a mind of winter " and thus enjoy a temporary aesthetic triumph , Bynner's " The Wintry Mind " tells how too long an attunement to winter may prove an emo- tional ...
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