Letter Writing Among Poets

Vicarious lives, the alter egos of unwritten or belatedly written poems, trap doors into hitherto unseen aspects of a personality, feints and personae—poets’ letters can be and have been all these and more, and the all-star lineup of critics, poets and essayists here demonstrate. This collection isn’t just the last word so far on a topic (two topics, at least) or permanent interest, but an example for literary critics in general: Anne Fadiman’s defense of Hartley Coleridge, Paul Muldoon on Bishop and (or Bishop vs.) Lowell, Michael Hurley on humour in Hopkins, Ellis himself on frustration and temporality in Bishop and Keats—here is a model for writers. And for readers. And for letter-writers, scholarly and otherwise, everywhere. -- Stephen Burt
Letters---that thoroughly familiar yet under-studied form of writing, always ancillary and yet essential to literary understanding. They blur the boundaries between ordinary experience and art, improvisation and convention, individual expression and collaboration. Somehow they matter especially for poets and poetry. With speculative force, nuanced interpretation, and lively narrative too, the various essays in this book, the only one of its kind, begin to answer the question (important to poetry and letters both) of why.　　 　Langdon Hammer, Yale University * Langdon Hammer, Yale University *
The collection looks backwards rather than forwards, celebrating the productive hybridity of letters as 'not only a source of information but a form of information'; letters are taken seriously as an art form in their own right, rather than a secondary source the critic mines for insights. Central to the collection is the shared conviction that letters are not 'autobiography by another name' but rather 'performances'... Covering the Romantic period through to the twentieth century, the volume addresses a miscellany of subjects, although Keats and Bishop are, rightly, important touchstones... the essays are penetrating and engagingly written. -- Ruth Hawthorn * PN Review *
To read poets' letters to other poets is to gain insight into the context in which they operated and into the complex bond of common obsession and lonely practice that ties and at the same time separates them. It also, of course, casts light on the work itself. -- Peter Sirr * Poetry Ireland Review *
The fifteen essays in this volume consider letters written during the past two centuries, and shed light on the state of correspondence today. The editor, Jonathan Ellis, offers a gentle admonition to critics who mourn the 'lost world' before the internet (in the words of Rebecca Solnit), a time when everyone wrote at length and thought in depth... The scholarly contributors to Letter Writing Among Poets argue that letters merit as much critical attention as texts in other genres, and that poets' letters reward particular scrutiny. A letter may offer explicit commentary on individual poems or poetics, as does one written by Keats on December 27, 1817, explaining his concept of negative capability. Others, such as those exchanged by Coleridge and his contemporaries, contain gossip that provides insight into the way literary networks operated. Every letter exemplifies its writer’s literary style, while some can be a testing ground for poetry. -- Nancy Campbell * Times Literary Supplement *