Customer Reviews

Collected Poems, 1919-1976 (FSG Classics)

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Allen Tate is one of the finest poets of the 20th Century and it is a pleasure to be able to read his poetry again in the fullest collection to date. There are some signature poems like "The Mediterranean" and "Ode to the Confederate Dead" and "The Swimmers" which would stand out in any collection of Modern Poetry. There are minor masterpieces as well, such as "Death of Little Boys" and "Aeneas in Washington" and "Seasons of the Soul" to which a reader would want to return many times. Just reading Tate's poetry at the present time makes one realize how meagre current poetry is and what greatness lies in the past century.

This collection reveals how talented a poet Allen Tate was. While "Aeneas in Washington" and "Ode to the Confederate Dead" are included in some anthologies, this book reveals the depth of his work. Tate could be very funny--his poem "William Blake" had me laughing my head off. Tate is always interesting and his poems reveal a good deal of this thinking on politics, war, American history and Christianity. Tate was inspired by the poems of the past and showed how they could be crafted even in a period when rhyme, rhythm, form and structure were not always appreciated. The introduction by Christopher Benfey was solid and not too in-depth to become cumbersome. I wish the work had been arranged more by chronology; some of the earlier poems show up at the end and took away from understanding Tate's development over the years.