The Wounded Surgeon: Confession and Transformation in Six American Poets

Robert Lowell, Elizabeth Bishop, Sylvia Plath, John Berryman, Randall Jarrell, and Delmore Schwartz formed one of the great constellations of talent in American literature. In the decades after World War II, they changed American poetry forever by putting themselves at risk in their poems in a new and provocative way. Their daring work helped to inspire the popular style of poetry now known as "confessional." But partly as a result of their openness, they have become better known for their tumultuous lives--afflicted by mental illness, alcoholism, and suicide--than for their work. This book reclaims their achievement by offering critical "biographies of the poetry"--tracing the development of each poet's work, exploring their major themes and techniques, and examining how they transformed life into art. An ideal introduction for readers coming to these major American poets for the first time, it will also help veteran readers to appreciate their work in a new light.

"The 'great constellation' of writers Kirsch discusses have been praised as the first wave of 'confessional' poets, but he finds this received opinion misguided. What makes these poets special, he argues, is not that they spilled their emotional guts on the page, but the ways in which they transformed these personal experiences into art: 'their primary motive was aesthetic,' he says. Kirsch, book critic for the New York Sun, emphasizes the 'deliberate manipulation of tone and language' in poems that some readers have mistaken for straightforward autobiographical expressions, particularly in discussing Lowell (whom he considers the best American poet born in the last century). Such discussion sets the tone for the later chapters; the sameness of the thesis is mitigated by very close readings of each poet's verse in support of Kirsch's account of the poetry's development. Where Kirsch finds weaknesses, such as a decline in Schwartz's talents or Plath's bad taste in equating her father with the Nazis in 'Daddy,' he addresses them frankly. His confident and comprehensive assessments bear a great resemblance in method and tone to those of his former teacher, Helen Vendler, and will engage any reader looking for a fresh take on some of America's best-known poets." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

"One of the most promising young poet-critics in America" (Los Angeles Times) examines a revolutionary generation of poets.

This book reclaims the achievements of six American poets--Lowell, Bishop, Berryman, Jarrell, Schwartz, and Plath--by offering critical "biographies of the poetry."

Adam Kirsch is the author of The Wounded Surgeon: Confession and Transformation in Six American Poets and The Thousand Wells: Poems. Book critic of the New York Sun, he lives in New York City.