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Collected Poems, 1945-1990
Finalist, 1995 National Book Award
This collection fills in a missing chapter in the history of American women’s poetry by bringing a significant voice back into print. Barbara Howes has perfected a personal style that had little to do with the fashionable currents of her time. Dana Gioia has said of her “[O]ne sees Howes very clearly as a woman writing in one of the oddest but most important traditions of American poetry. She stands with Marianne Moore, Elizabeth Bishop, and ultimately Emily Dickinson in a lineage of women writers passionately committed to the independence and singularity of the poetic imagination. Collected poems 1945-199 0 contains the lifework of one of America’s irreplaceable poets.” Forty years ago in The New Yorker Louise Bogan “Barbara Howes is the most accomplished women poet of the younger writing generation—one who has found her own voice, chosen her own material, and worked out her own form. Miss Howes is daring with language, but she is also accurate. Her originality stands in constant close reference to the material in hand, and although much of that material is fantastic or exotic, it is never so simply for its own sake.” Drawing from seven previous books, this collection confirms and consolidates the reputation of Barbara Howes as a timeless poet whose fine voice and surprising insights will continue to delight all lovers of language.
This collection fills in a missing chapter in the history of American women’s poetry by bringing a significant voice back into print. Barbara Howes has perfected a personal style that had little to do with the fashionable currents of her time. Dana Gioia has said of her “[O]ne sees Howes very clearly as a woman writing in one of the oddest but most important traditions of American poetry. She stands with Marianne Moore, Elizabeth Bishop, and ultimately Emily Dickinson in a lineage of women writers passionately committed to the independence and singularity of the poetic imagination. Collected poems 1945-199 0 contains the lifework of one of America’s irreplaceable poets.” Forty years ago in The New Yorker Louise Bogan “Barbara Howes is the most accomplished women poet of the younger writing generation—one who has found her own voice, chosen her own material, and worked out her own form. Miss Howes is daring with language, but she is also accurate. Her originality stands in constant close reference to the material in hand, and although much of that material is fantastic or exotic, it is never so simply for its own sake.” Drawing from seven previous books, this collection confirms and consolidates the reputation of Barbara Howes as a timeless poet whose fine voice and surprising insights will continue to delight all lovers of language.
- GenresPoetry
Paperback
First published March 1, 1995
20 people want to read
About the author
Barbara Howes
43 books2 followersBarbara Howes was an American poet.
She graduated from Bennington College in 1937. She worked briefly for the Southern Tenant Farmers Union in Mississippi, and then edited the literary magazine, Chimera, from 1943 to 1947 and lived in Greenwich Village. In 1947 she married the poet William Jay Smith, and they lived for a time in England and Italy. They divorced in the mid-1960s, and she lived in Pownal, Vermont.
In 1971, she signed a letter protesting proposed cuts to the School of the Arts, Columbia University.
Her work was published in, Atlantic, Chicago Review, New Directions, New Republic, New Yorker, New York Times Book Review, Saturday Review, Southern Review, University of Kansas Review, Virginia Quarterly Review, and Yale Review.
She graduated from Bennington College in 1937. She worked briefly for the Southern Tenant Farmers Union in Mississippi, and then edited the literary magazine, Chimera, from 1943 to 1947 and lived in Greenwich Village. In 1947 she married the poet William Jay Smith, and they lived for a time in England and Italy. They divorced in the mid-1960s, and she lived in Pownal, Vermont.
In 1971, she signed a letter protesting proposed cuts to the School of the Arts, Columbia University.
Her work was published in, Atlantic, Chicago Review, New Directions, New Republic, New Yorker, New York Times Book Review, Saturday Review, Southern Review, University of Kansas Review, Virginia Quarterly Review, and Yale Review.
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