The Owner of the House: New Collected Poems 1940-2001 (American Poets Continuum)
Simpson is one of the most memorable contributors to the outstandingPoets of World War II[BKL Mr 15 03]. His war experiences in the infantry in Europe were hairier than those of most American soldier-poets, who flew or served away from the front. The war preoccupies his early work, which includes most of his most impressive poems. Those, regular in rhyme and meter, often achieve their edgy power by balancing grim content against the plucky mood of their jingly rhythms. After the war, Simpson became a literature professor without forsaking his public voice and concerns. Switching to unrhymed, even-lined verse, he wrote of gray comforts and desperate strivings (often just so much adultery) in the suburbs; of travel and travel observations; and of his Russian Jewish heritage, which somehow led to his own upbringing in Jamaica while too many relatives went to Auschwitz. Read chronologically, his poems constitute the record of a finely intelligent and democratic man's journey from heroism to warm, common citizenship--a life one can envy.Ray OlsonCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.