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Article: The Lives of the Poets.(Review)
- Article from:
- Poetry
- Article date:
- August 1, 2000
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2000 Modern Poetry Association. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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The Lives of the Poets, by Michael Schmidt. Alfred A. Knopf. $35.00.
At a length of over 900 pages and weighing three pounds, six ounces, Michael Schmidt's Lives of the Poets is a good book but it would be even better software. How often, hearing Schmidt's verdict on poets I'd read long ago (he lambastes Byron) or never at all (Mina Loy? Edgell Rickword?), I wanted to double-click on those names and open a window on a menu of their poems. Of course, I might have overcome my laziness, set Schmidt's tome aside, got up, and scouted out one of the poets' books (those I'd been wise or lucky enough to stockpile). Lacking all that, one or another anthology might have ...