Notable Poets, Vol. 3

School Library Journal

Gr 9 Up-Respectful, often insightful, and occasionally inspired, these biographies are good introductions to 110 poets from Homer, Sappho, and Li Po to James Merrill, Yevgeny Yevtushenko, and Jorie Graham. In addition to the standard figures-Rainer Maria Rilke, Federico Garc a Lorca, Pablo Neruda-there is also a handful of less-familiar names-Osip Mandelstam, Nelly Sachs, and C sar Vallejo. The articles have been selected from Critical Survey of Poetry: English Language Series (1992) and Critical Survey of Poetry: Foreign Language Series (1984, both Salem) and updated. They open with birth and death details, a list of major poems, and a quick overview of achievements. Biographical information and critical analyses of major works make up the bulk of the entries, followed by brief discussions of the poets' work in other literary forms, a selected list of these publications, and a bibliography. There are geographical and subject indexes. Unfortunately, there is a tendency to generalize or oversimplify a writer's career. For example, William Carlos Williams is treated as the poet of Paterson (his epic) almost to the exclusion of his groundbreaking early works, which are dismissed rather quickly. Also, the subject index is incomplete, e.g., Alfred Kreymborg is mentioned in at least two articles and yet is not listed in the index. Though the writing in this set is not on the same level as that in the "Poets" series (Scribners), Notable Poets will still be a useful resource.-Herman Sutter, Saint Pius X High School, Houston, TX Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.

Booknews

This three-volume set collects biographical sketches and critical studies of 110 of the world's best-known poets from antiquity to the late twentieth century. Designed to survey the essential poets whose works comprise the core of high school and undergraduate curriculums, 75 articles focus on English-language poets and 35 on foreign-language writers whose poetry is widely studied in translation. Volume III contains a glossary of poetical terms, a time line of the poets' birthdates, a geographical index, and a comprehensive index. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.