July 1, 1951
Casella as Critic: A Note on R. P. Blackmur
The prose of R. P. Blackmur reveals a mastery of the unsprung paradox—the paradox which never quite gets uttered, the paradox lurking in the syntax, content perhaps to remain muted […]
July 1, 1951
The Poetry of 1900-1950¹
The first half of our century has gone. But between 1 December 31 last and April 6 today, I do not know what is the special event which permits us […]
April 1, 1951
Three Definitions
The first of the definitions to be offered here is the broadest. It concerns “the lyric” in general. The second will deal with “the Platonic dialogue,” considered as a literary […]
April 1, 1951
VIII. On the Function of Criticism
MY CREDO (continued) Poetry is the use of certain techniques of language and certain forms in order to make vivid certain metaphors. The poet says “my experience is like this,” […]
April 1, 1951
IX. Not in Cold Blood
I am sure it is a very good thing for the editors of The Kenyon Review to set up this little group portrait of contemporary criticism (like those engravings of […]
April 1, 1951
Sherwood Anderson: An American as Artist
“For all my egotism,” wrote Sherwood Anderson at the end of his life, “I know I am but a minor figure.” This self-estimate is both accurate and sincere: it comes, […]
April 1, 1951
Mr. Hyman and the Dictionary
SIRS: In a review of Volume I of The Funk and Wagnalls Standard Dictionary of Folklore, Mythology and Legend (1949, Maria Leach, Ed.) which was published in your Autumn 1950 […]
April 1, 1951
In the Hope of Straightening Things Out
If you think of the body of Eliot’s criticism1 as if it were completed you will see several things more or less clearly, especially if you use your official eye. […]
April 1, 1951
Sense in the Prelude
One does not think of the poetry of Wordsworth, even the parts which expound his philosophy, as depending on a concentrated richness of single words. There are of course “key” […]
April 1, 1951
A No to Nothing
A young man, let us call him X, is ushered unctuously LA. into the inner offices of a reputable American publisher (it could well be any major publisher). The young […]
April 1, 1951
X. The Teacher as a Critic
Like Newman, who so deeply influenced my youth and who continues to be one of my points de repère, I can most naturally exposit my present convictions by sketching the […]
April 1, 1951
Structures of Sound in Donne’s Verse (Continued)
IV My second category is the use of sound to imitate directly the sense of what is being said. At one extreme all the resources of style are used, with […]