Richard Howard (1)Besprekingen

I found most of the pieces in this collection to be too 'inside baseball' for my taste. But still worth the read and I very much enjoyed 'The Golden Age of Jules Verne' and 'On Fairy Tales'.

Like most collections of poems by various writers, for me, it's hit or miss, but the hits are very good. Unfortunately, as a lyrical time capsule of 1995 poetry, it makes me think that that year in poems was a very self-centered and pretentious one. But I liked that the editors purposefully set out to curate a volume of poems that was light on the old favorites and fresh with new talent. Even with all of the poems I didn't take a shine to, it's definitely a volume of top American poetry worth examining as both a writer and a reader.

Howard is an even-handed critic and one able to appreciate poetry that may not immediately suit his temperament. It's readable, even-handed survey of U.S. poetry post-1950.