Edgar Allan Poe: Poems and Poetics

Richard Wilbur, a former Poet Laureate of the United States and one of the most admired poets and critics of his generation, revisits the poetry of Poe, exploring the philosophical seriousness of verse often identified with its macabre and gothic surfaces. Here is the whole canon of Poe's mature poetry, along with a judicious selection of prose writings that illuminate Poe's poetic goals.

"Our poetry, in Poe's view, must specialize in aesthetic transcendence, eschewing the truth, morality, and passion which might entangle it with this present world. The whole movement of Poe's poetry is away from the material here and now. . . . The poet's strategy is to accomplish a mock-destruction of earthly things, estranging the reader from material reality and so, presumably, propelling his imagination toward the ideal." -- Richard Wilbur, from the introduction

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Elegantly designed in compact editions, printed on acid-free paper, and textually authoritative, the American Poets Project makes available the full range of the American poetic accomplishment, selected and introduced by today's most discerning poets and critics.

Binding Type: Hardcover
Publisher: Library of America
Published: 10/13/2003
ISBN: 9781931082518
Pages: 179
Weight: 0.53lbs
Size: 7.52h x 4.90w x 0.64d

Review Citations: Booklist 10/15/2003 pg. 380

Accelerated Reader Quiz #/Name: 2564 / Retold Edgar Allan Poe
Reading Level: 5.7 / Interest Level: Upper Grade / Point Value: 5