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 47
... writing about a baseball pitcher , but he is also clearly writing about the poet . PITCHER His art is eccentricity , his aim How not to hit the mark he seems to aim at , His passion to avoid the obvious , His technique how to vary the ...
... writing about a baseball pitcher , but he is also clearly writing about the poet . PITCHER His art is eccentricity , his aim How not to hit the mark he seems to aim at , His passion to avoid the obvious , His technique how to vary the ...
Page 184
... writing , do you regard individual translations of single poems as exercises of a sort ? I don't mean translations of plays now . RW I find that I feel a kind of abhorrence for the word exer- cise , even though in teaching poetry I ask ...
... writing , do you regard individual translations of single poems as exercises of a sort ? I don't mean translations of plays now . RW I find that I feel a kind of abhorrence for the word exer- cise , even though in teaching poetry I ask ...
Page 200
... writing poetry today in whose work may be found any considerable body of the simple lyric . " Good art , of whatever magnitude , is never replaced , but it may well be mislaid . It is writers , I think , who are most likely to be ...
... writing poetry today in whose work may be found any considerable body of the simple lyric . " Good art , of whatever magnitude , is never replaced , but it may well be mislaid . It is writers , I think , who are most likely to be ...
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