Description
Book SynopsisWilliam Logan reconciles history and poetry to provide new ways of reading poets ranging from Shakespeare and Shelley to Lowell and Heaney. In these striking essays, Logan presents the poetry of the past through the lens of the past, attempting to bring poems back to the world in which they were made.
Trade ReviewDickinson's Nerves, Frost's Woods only confirms and enriches my sense that William Logan is the most outstanding critic of poetry now practicing in America. An extraordinary critical effort. -- William Pritchard, Amherst College
[William Logan] should be declared a national treasure. . . . Reading this book, one learns how to listen carefully, notice details, and ask discerning questions. . . . Each chapter contrasts two poets (Henry Wadsworth Longfellow & Lewis Carroll, John Keats & Donald Justice, Emily Dickinson & Robert Frost, etc.) and overflows (at times) with insights and delightful digressions that are guaranteed to inspire literary scholars for generations. * Library Journal (starred review) *
Logan’s ear can be superb, and when he’s on charitable form, he can teach any reader to hear better. There are many such moments in
Dickinson’s Nerves, Frost’s Woods; whole passages of forensic attention that serve as examples to critical thought. -- Cal Revely-Calder * Times Literary Supplement *
Table of ContentsList of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Notes Toward an Introduction
1. Shelley’s Wrinkled Lip, Smith’s Gigantic Leg
2. Frost’s Horse, Wilbur’s Ride
3. Lowell’s Skunk, Heaney’s Skunk
4. Longfellow’s Hiawatha, Carroll’s Hiawatha: The Name and Nature of Parody
5. Keats’s Chapman’s Homer, Justice’s Henry James
6. Shakespeare’s Rotten Weeds, Shakespeare’s Deep Trenches
7. Pound’s Métro, Williams’s Wheelbarrow
8. Dickinson’s Nerves, Frost’s Woods
Permissions
Notes
Index
