The Voice of the Poet: Randall Jarrell Book

Each audio production is accompanied by a book containing the text of the poems and a commentary by J.D. McClatchy.

Randall Jarrell (1914-1965) a Tennessee native, earned his bachelors and masters degrees from Vanderbilt University. His first book of poetry, Blood for a Stranger, was published in 1942, the same year he enlisted in the army. Jarrells reputation as a poet was established in 1945, with his second book, Little Friend, Little Friend, which bitterly documents the intense fears and moral struggles of a young soldier. He is highly regarded as a peerless literary essayist and is considered the most astute poetry critic of his generation. Jarrell was struck by a car and killed at the age of 50, in a death that may or may not have been a suicide.

Library Journal

Part of an eight-tape series, these audiocassettes of the poets reading their own works include some never-released recordings. Each tape includes a book with the text of the poems, information about the poets, suggested reading, and a commentary by editor J.D. McClatchy. In some poems the audio differs from the printed text; in the Ashbery and Jarrell books, each piece is dated. While the tape quality is adequate, the reviewer's copies did have an audible hiss. The Jarrell cassette, which includes additional commentary not found on the other two tapes (the definition of a ball turret gunner and the story behind "Eighth Air Force"), also had a slight echo. Five American Women was occasionally difficult to understand owing to the timbre of the readers' (Edna St. Vincent Millay, Gertrude Stein, and others) voices. Recommended for public libraries. Laurie Selwyn, San Antonio P.L. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.