Shelf Life

Poets on Poetry

by Thom Gunn

Devoted mainly to aspects of American literature, from Walt Whitman to the contemporary voices of Allen Ginsberg and August Kleinsahler, this book ranges from figures such as H.D., Marianne Moore and Mina Loy - brought together under the title "Three Hard Women" - the Modernist T.S. Eliot, Ezra Pound and Basil Bunting, and the West Coast writers Robert Duncan and Jack Sharpless. The book also includes personal memoirs of Christopher Isherwood and Yvor Winters, and a discussion between Gunn and Jim Powell, himself the subject of an earlier review.

Genres: Poetry

240 pages, Hardcover

First published December 1, 1993

About the author

Thom Gunn (29 August 1929 – 25 April 2004), born Thomson William Gunn, was an Anglo-American poet who was praised for his early verses in England, where he was associated with The Movement, and his later poetry in America, even after moving toward a looser, free-verse style. After relocating from England to San Francisco, Gunn wrote about gay-related topics—particularly in his most famous work, The Man With Night Sweats in 1992—as well as drug use, sex, and his bohemian lifestyle. He won major literary awards.

Reviews

[Cooper Renner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Skipped some chunks—about Ginsberg and Duncan—but overall a good assortment of writings on interesting writers. The concluding interview is quite worthwhile and a nice contrast to too much contemporary practice of verse.