Worlds into Words: Understanding Modern Poems

by Diane Wood Middlebrook, Roberta Adkins (Drawings)

Many of us approach poetry warily, unsure how to go about reading a poem with the proper kind of attention. Worlds into Worlds is an informal companion for poetry reading―a resource of information, observations, and interpretations. Diane Wood Middlebrook draws on her experience as both teacher and poet to show us how to read even difficult modern poems with pleasure. She analyzes the work of a number of poets and also discusses some of her own poems, showing how the creative process unfolds.

156 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1980

About the author

Middlebrook, who taught at Stanford for 35 years, was perhaps best known for Anne Sexton: A Biography. Its intense scrutiny of the poet's life made it "one of the turning points of late 20th-century biography," according to the newspaper. Middlebrook published several other well-received biographies and works of criticism, and was known for funding various arts organizations and literary salons for women. Born in Pocatello, Idaho, she graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Washington in 1961 and earned her Ph.D. from Yale in 1968. She married Carl Djerassi, inventor of the birth-control pill in 1985.

Reviews

[John Fredrickson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an uneven book, but well worth reading. Some of the chapters are truly enlightening, particularly the chapter on Plath, Sexton, and Rich. The chapter on Yeats was interesting as well. One gets a solid sense of what drove some of the modern poets, enabling (hopefully!) a much fuller experience of these poets, and possibly other modern poets as well.