Dickinson's Nerves, Frost's Woods

May 1, 2018

Logan (Alumni Professor and Distinguished Teaching Scholar, Univ. of Florida), winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award (for The Undiscovered Country), should be declared a national treasure. One of our greatest living critics, he is also one of our sanest; but it is his curiosity that is his finest gift. Here he takes readers by the hand as he explores and contemplates the intricacies of syntax, meter, and imagery with the delicacy of a surgeon and the compassion of a monk. Whether structural, historical, or biographical, no detail is too small for his attention and care. Reading this book, one learns how to listen carefully, notice details, and ask discerning questions. Read his coda of the chapter on Ezra Pound's "In a Station of the Metro" and William Carlos Williams's "The Red Wheelbarrow" and you will learn not only a lesson about art and memory but also humility and humanity. Each chapter contrasts two poets (Henry Wadsworth Longfellow & Lewis Carroll, John Keats & Donald Justice, Emily Dickinson & Robert Frost, etc.) and overflows (at times) with insights and delightful digressions that are guaranteed to inspire literary scholars for generations. VERDICT Highly recommended for academic and poetry collections.--Herman Sutter, St. Agnes Acad., Houston

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