Poetics Book

Two books together -- this one and Lives of the Poets by Michael Schmidt. Enjoying this one a lot, loved the other.

Schmidt -- a brief but satisfying critical bio of every significant English language poet, showing an understanding of all of them. I found myself especially loving his accounts of the very early poets that I'd never heard of, like Rolle and Henryson. How can one not love this story of Henryson's death?

being very old he dyed of a diarrhea or fluxe, of whome there goes this merry, though somewhat unsauory tale, that all phisitians hauing giuen him ouer & he lying drawing his last breath there came an old woman vnto him, who was held a witch & asked him whether he would be cured, to whome he sayed very willingly. then quod she there is a whikey tree in the lower end of your orchard, & if you will goe and walke but thrice about it, & thrice repeate theis wordes whikey tree whikey tree take away this fluxe from me you shall be presently cured, he told her that beside he was extreme faint & weake it was extreme frost & snow & that it was impossible for him to go: She told him that vnles he did so it was impossible he should recouer. Mr Henderson then lifting upp himselfe, & pointing to an Oken table that was in the roome, asked her & seied gude dame I pray ye tell me, if it would not do as well if I repeated thrice theis words oken burd oken burd garre me shit a hard turde. the woman seing herselfe derided & scorned ran out of the house in a great passion & Mr Henderson within halfe a quarter of an houre departed this life.

Pritchard gives critical essays on the most important modern poets, plus Hardy, who's pre-modern, but these days getting the recognition he so richly deserves. He's very good on E. A. Robinson. Snarky on Yeats, which is unusual. I'm about halfway through the book, just getting to Pound.