{"product_id":"last-looks-last-books-helen-vendler-9780691145341","title":"Last Looks, Last Books: Stevens, Plath, Lowell, Bishop, Merrill","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eModern American poets writing in the face of death\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn \u003ci\u003eLast Looks, Last Books\u003c\/i\u003e, the eminent critic Helen Vendler examines the ways in which five great modern American poets, writing their final books, try to find a style that does justice to life and death alike. With traditional religious consolations no longer available to them, these poets must invent new ways to express the crisis of death, as well as the paradoxical coexistence of a declining body and an undiminished consciousness. In \u003ci\u003eThe Rock\u003c\/i\u003e, Wallace Stevens writes simultaneous narratives of winter and spring; in \u003ci\u003eAriel\u003c\/i\u003e, Sylvia Plath sustains melodrama in cool formality; and in \u003ci\u003eDay by Day\u003c\/i\u003e, Robert Lowell subtracts from plenitude. In \u003ci\u003eGeography III\u003c\/i\u003e, Elizabeth Bishop is both caught and freed, while James Merrill, in \u003ci\u003eA Scattering of Salts\u003c\/i\u003e, creates a series of self-portraits as he dies, representing himself by such things as a Christmas tree, human tissue on a laboratory slide, and the evening\/morning star. The solution for one poet will not serve for another; each must invent a bridge from an old style to a new one. Casting a last look at life as they contemplate death, these modern writers enrich the resources of lyric poetry.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Helen Vendler\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0691145342\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780691145341\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Princeton University Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 03\/21\/2010\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 168\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.70lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.50h x 5.80w x 0.80d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eReview Citation(s): \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eNew York Times Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e 12\/05\/2010 pg. 50\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eChoice\u003c\/i\u003e 02\/01\/2011","brand":"Helen Vendler","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":43981100712191,"sku":"9780691145341","price":29.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_abc89529-1149-4ed3-b374-29f131c259e0.jpg?v=1683253658","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/last-looks-last-books-helen-vendler-9780691145341","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}