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Article: New and Collected Poems.
- Article from:
- National Review
- Article date:
- September 2, 1988
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1988 National Review, Inc. 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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WHATEVER SPINS AROUND
WHO'S WHO listed Richard Purdy Wilbur (b. 1921) as "educator, writer," not anticipating the Poet Laureatcy (whatever that means) of the United States. To be Poet Laureate of England can be a grim task; of Ted Hughes it has already exacted nearly worse than it did of Tennyson, 15 stanzas on the wedding of Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson, of which the nadir is perhaps
Dance, dance, as Eve and Adam Kicked their worries off
In Paradise, before they heard God politely cough.... --So far down could the ventriloquist of Crow be dragged.
Wilbur on an uplifting occasion can be defter than that. For the Statue of ...