Louis Simpson (1) (1923–2012)

This volume from the admirable Poets on Poetry from University of Michigan Press features short occasional pieces, mostly addresses, reviews, and interviews. They are somewhat lightweight, but engaging and pleasant. There is a great deal of repetition of Simpson's favorite ideas and literary quotations. Much of what he has to say comes off as middle aged bitterness about the course of American poetry going in a different direction than he would prefer The tone is not bitter, not quite crabby, but the often repeated resentfulness gets tiresome. The best piece are those that directly discuss his own work and poetic process.… (meer)

Simpson's down-to-earth, commonsensical criticism is a pleasure to read. He has remarkably wide-ranging sympathies and tastes which he expresses in clear prose and a generosity of spirit. Partly, I suppose, my reaction is colored by the fact that he deals so much with the poets I first read and loved as a teenager in the late 60s and early 70s (Bly, Levertov, Merwin, et al), but i think it goes deeper than that. The book opens with some semi-autobiographical (or at least personal pieces) which are charming, but perhaps the weakest part of the volume. There follows a number of reviews and short critical articles, perceptive, clear, and blessedly free of academic cant, mostly written for the non-specialist periodical market. The last section is largely taken up with extended interviews from various sources in which Simpson explicates his straight-forward theory of poetry. This book is from the remarkable "Poets on Poetry" series from the University of Michigan Press.… (meer)