Compulsory figures

Taylor, Henry

Although he is best known as a poet, Henry Taylor is also an astute critic, as the essays in this discerning collection demonstrate. In Compulsory Figures, Taylor writes about seventeen contemporary poets, much of whose work, he says, has been a part of his mental landscape since he himself began to write poetry. The pieces were written, and most of them published, over an extended period of time; as a whole, the collection reveals Taylor's profound respect for craftsmanship and for the distinct terms on which different poems must be taken. His concern is as much with the process of creating a poem as it is with the poem itself. Taylor's interests range from traditional verse to startling experiments with newer forms. Several of his subjects are among the best-known poets of the past twenty-five years; a few are better known as writers of prose than of poetry. Some have long been...

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