Jarrell, Bishop, Lowell, & Co

Book excerpt: Jarrell, Bishop, Lowell, & Co.: Middle-Generation Poets in Context Takes on the oft-noted but little explored friendship of three of the most respected poets of the twentieth century. Editor Suzanne Ferguson collects eighteen essays that explore the literary, personal, and political affiliations of Randall Jarrell, Elizabeth Bishop, and Robert Lowell, influential literary figures who flourished in the periods between modernism and postmodernism. Essay in the first section of the book directly compare the subjects, while sections on each of the poets follow. The contributors unpack received wisdom on the poets, revising and updating our conceptions. The multiple viewpoints reflect on one another, shedding provocative light on the group as a whole, and revealing the ways the study of poets in their historical context helps make them not only accessible but also relevant to today's reader. The Contributors: Edward Hirsch, Steven Gould Axelrod, Jeredith Merrin, Thomas Travisano, Diederik Oostdijk, Richard Flynn, Nelson Hathcock, Florian Hild, Stephen Burt, James McCorkle, Ross Leckie, Meg Schoerke, Lurel Kornhiser, Francesco Rognoni, Christian Sisack, Ernest J. Smith, and Elise Partridge. The Editor: Suzanne Ferguson is Samuel B. and Virginia C. Knight Professor of Humanities, Emerita, at Case Western Reserve University. She is author of The Poetry of Randall Jarrell, editor of Critical Essays on Randall Jarrell, and coeditor of Literature and the Visual Arts in Contemporary Society. Her articles have appeared in Georgia Review, Modern Fiction Studies, Word and Image, and other journals.