Collected Writings on Poetry

by Paul O'Prey

This text is part of the Robert Graves Programme in which his work is re-edited and re-published. In 1918, Robert Graves began his writing career in earnest. The phases of his critical writing are distinct.

Hardcover

First published December 31, 1995

Reviews

[Liam Guilar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Probably the best set of essays and lectures on English poetry ever collected. Graves was willful, iconoclastic, often bafflingly wrong headed, but he was never less than interesting. He probably knew more about poetry in English than Eliot, and was a better linguist than Pound but he never fell into the trap of pretending his view of the world was objective fact. Several famous reputations get a mauling, and whether you think they deserved it or not, even at his most idiosyncratic (and Graves could take 'idiosyncratic' to hitherto unscaled heights) he is always worth the price of admission. One of the great bodies of critical work in twentieth century literature by one of the great characters of twentieth century poetry.
It really needs six stars.