An edition to own of a great writer, second only to Melville in the American literary pantheon.

An edition to own. Here are the best samples of a great writer, second only to Melville in the American literary pantheon.

The first verse of William Blake's Auguries of Innocence appears in Bronowski, as homage to Ludwig Boltzmann: " To see a World in a Grain of Sand, And a Heaven in a Wild flower, Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand, And Eternity in an hour...." William Blake was born in London in 1757. He attended drawing school and thereafter eked out a very modest existence as an engraver and artist. He was not able to find a publisher so in 1789 he himself engraved and published Songs of Innocence and The Book of Thel. Blake died in 1827. Blake was one of many 'romantic poets' of that epoch. Auden and Pearson point out that the romantic definition of man appears towards the end of the eighteenth century. The divine element that man possesses is not power nor free will of reason, but self-consciousness. Man can see possibilities, he can imagine states of existence other than they are.

One of the annoying things about the received opinion about the Romantic poets is the statement that there were exactly six of them--Blake, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Byron, Keats, and Shelley. This pronouncement is usually delivered with equal conviction to assertions you usually hear only in the natural sciences--e.g., that there are three kinds of human muscle (cardiac, striated, and slow-flexing) and two kinds of stony drip-accreted icicles in caves (stalactites and stalagmites). Nor elsewhere in the area of literature do you quite hear that there were so many Russian realist novelists, so many French Symbolist poets, so many English medieval poets, etc. So it's something of a relief to read in the editors' introduction to the "Portable Romantic Poets" that American romantics are included as well, because poets don't just arrest their reading, as anthologizers usually arrest their selecting, at continental or national boundaries. It's also welcome to see the inclusion of poets who are sometimes left out because they might be felt to be minor or unpopular (Landor) or generically different (Burns) by anthologizers. This anthology is a welcome corrective to received wisdom about who actually qualifies as a Romantic. And the efficient introduction is a minor masterpiece of cultural exposition as well.

Far be it from me to critique these poets, but I can say something about this particular presentation. It's a handy little volume, with a several-page introduction providing historical context, and a several-page calendar of British and American poetry from 1750 to around 1850. The calendar doesn't just list poetry, it includes events like "Watt's steam engine patented" and "Lewis and Clark Expedition" as well as the publication of novels and music, so context is well established. At the back of the book is an index of poems by title and by first line, and there's a set of biographical notes on the poets.

If you want to know what romantic poetry's all about, take a look at this. I don't know how an English Lit Ph.D. would rate this book but I think it's a nice collection.

End of Torment can be viewed as an indepth clarification of Hermione. The book (or journal) was written at the time of Pound's hospitalization, and Hilda has a lot to say about her ex. However, HD still has her way with words (or play on words) and symbolic imagery, which can make this read a sweat. Nevertheless, it still is beautiful poetry and should not be overlooked. Also included is Hilda's archive of Pound's priceless poems.