In Last Looks, Last Books, the eminent critic Helen Vendler examines the ways in which five great modern American poets, writing their final books, try to find a style that does justice to life and death alike. With traditional religious consolations no longer available to them, these poets must invent new ways to express the crisis of death, as well as the paradoxical coexistence of a declining body and an undiminished consciousness. In The Rock, Wallace Stevens writes simultaneous narratives of winter and spring; in Ariel, Sylvia Plath sustains melodrama in cool formality; and in Day by Day, Robert Lowell subtracts from plenitude. In Geography III, Elizabeth Bishop is both caught and freed, while James Merrill, in A Scattering of Salts, creates a series of self-portraits as he dies, representing himself by such things as a Christmas tree, human tissue on a laboratory slide, and the evening/morning star. The solution for one poet will not serve for another; each must invent a bridge from an old style to a new one. Casting a last look at life as they contemplate death, these modern writers enrich the resources of lyric poetry.
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"Helen Vendler is one of the most lucid and incisive critics with which the art of poetry has been blessed, and this is one of her finest books--brilliant, moving, and a pleasure to read."--James Longenbach, University of Rochester
"This is an elegant, expressive, and often very poignant book. One can only admire Helen Vendler's skill in showing how these American poets confronted their own leave-taking."--Angus Fletcher, City University of New York
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Book Description Hardback or Cased Book. Condition: New. Last Looks, Last Books: Stevens, Plath, Lowell, Bishop, Merrill 0.7. Book. Seller Inventory # BBS-9780691145341
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Book Description Condition: New. Seller Inventory # 6918277-n
Book Description Hardcover. Condition: Brand New. 176 pages. 8.50x5.75x0.75 inches. In Stock. This item is printed on demand. Seller Inventory # __0691145342
Book Description Hardback. Condition: New. New copy - Usually dispatched within 4 working days. Examines the ways in which five great modern American poets, writing their final books, try to find a style that does justice to life and death alike. This title focuses on the books: "The Rock", "Ariel", "Day by Day", "Geography III" and "A Scattering of Salts". Seller Inventory # B9780691145341
Book Description hardcover. Condition: New. First Edition. Special order direct from the distributor. Seller Inventory # ING9780691145341