Title: Invisible listeners : lyric intimacy in Herbert, Whitman, and Ashbery /
Authors: Vendler, Helen, 1933-
Publisher: Princeton University Press,
Year: 2005
Subjects: Whitman, Walt, Criticism and interpretation.; Herbert, George, Criticism and interpretation.; Ashbery, John, Criticism and interpretation.; American poetry History and criticism; Intimacy (Psychology) in literature.; Lyric poetry History and criticism; Authors and readers United States.; Authors and readers England.; Reader-response criticism.; God in literature.
Abstract: When a poet addresses a living person, we recognise the intimacy being evoked, but what causes a poet to invoke invisible listeners? Helen Vendler explores this area of poetry, focusing on the works of George Herbert, Walt Whitman and John Ashbery.
Contents: Invisible listeners -- George Herbert and God -- Walt Whitman and the reader-in-futurity -- John Ashbery and the artist of the past -- Domesticating the unseen.