Poems of R.P. Blackmur

As one of the first and most eloquent spokesmen for the New Criticism, R. P. Blackmur achieved a place of rare distinction in American letters. He preferred to think of himself as a poet, however, and this volume shows that his poetry was in its own right an enduring contribution to literature. Included here are The Second World (1942) and The Good European (1947), as well as From Jordan’s Delight (1937), described by Allen Tate as “one of the most distinguished volumes of verse in the first half of the century.”

Blackmur was a formalist and a master of traditional versification, a poet whose work did not show the influence of Pound and Eliot although he read them closely. His poetry impresses the reader with its strength, gravity, and musicality.

During his career, Blackmur lectured widely in the United States and abroad. He was the first man of letters to hold the Pitt Professorship of American History and Institutions at Cambridge University, and he was Professor of English at Princeton University, where he conceived the Christian Gauss Seminars in Criticism. He was a Fellow in American Letters at the Library of Congress, a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and Vice President of the National Institute of Arts and Letters.

Originally published in 1978.

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