Poets Through Their Letters (Volume 1)

POETS THROUGH THEIR LETTERS represents a unique approach to the study of the letters written by the Great English poets. Unlike other critics, poet-critic Martin Seymour-Smith does not analyze the letters for their own sake, but for the invaluable information and insights they give us into the nature and art of poetry and into the outstanding poets who create it.

"The letters of Sidney, Donne, Marvell, Dryden, Pope, Swift, Gray, Wordsworth, Coleridge, and many others have been carefully chosen to shed light on the total poetic accomplishment of these great artists. Each chapter of this book stands as an excellent, comprehensive biographical and critical study in its own right, with excerpts from the richest and most significant letters in the English language.

"A subtle and cautious critic in his psychological interpretations, Mr. Seymour-Smith's analytical evaluation of the letters is distinctly different from other critics'. As a result, readers of this distinguished book will gain new perspectives into the work of some of the greatest poets that England has produced, as well as into that mysterious entity, Poetry, and the meaning it has for those who write it."

Published by Holt, Rinehart and Winston
New York (1969)
First Edition