Customer Reviews

Lives of the Poets

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This book is nearly 1000 pages long. Nearly every one of these pages has something to commend it to anyone interested in poetry. (In fact, as I page through, I can't seem to find one that doesn't.) Schmidt is eclectic in his selection, as one might expect from the editor of the distinguished PN Review. He draws interesting material from throughout the English speaking world and hones in, with remarkable intelligence and good taste, on what makes these poets, and their poems, worthy of our attention. He is good and always interesting on biography, which takes second place to the poems. Schmidt gets it right by focussing, when he writes on the poems themselves, on rhythms, meters, syntax, diction, and what it feels like to read them well. He is generous in many ways, to the poets, to their poems, and to his readers. I hope they are many.

"Lives of the Poets" covers seven hundred years of English language poets and poetry in a little under a thousand pages. Schmidt starts in the early fourteenth century--early enough that he takes several chapters to get to Chaucer--and continues right up to the present day, ending with Seamus Heaney and his contemporaries.

Schmidt's style is to take several contemporary names and treat them together in a single chapter. Sometimes he gives a poet a chapter to himself (Edmund Spenser, William Blake); sometimes he deals with half a dozen at a time. The chronological approach (which he acknowledges is disdained by some in academe) works very well in providing a narrative, a sense of unfolding of poetic skill and poetic tradition.

The period up to about 1900 is beautifully done. Most of the poets whose lives and work Schmidt describes are well-known, either for their poetry, or at least as names. He includes quite a few, however, who will be familiar only to academics or real poetry buffs--Juliana Berners, Robert Manning, Mary Wroth, William Cullen Bryant. Schmidt's prose is lively and engaging, and his love for his subjects and their poetry shines through. I found myself inspired to read the poets I didn't know. I also found his discussion of the poets I did know useful--he gives a lot of biographical detail, and makes thoughtful (and sometimes acid) comments on the poetry itself. For example, he's not a big fan of Swinburne, and while he acknowledges his popularity and influence has sharp things to say about his work.

However, Schmidt's coverage of the twentieth century is less satisfying. He covers more poets (about 130) of the twentieth century than of the previous six hundred years (about 115). He's aware this is a problem, and makes excuses for it at one point, but it causes some difficulties for the reader. When you read about Richard Rolle or William Langland, even if you don't know their work, Schmidt's placing of them in their historical context around Chaucer's time allows you to fit them into the poetic scheme of things. But when he covers very recent poets, such as Edward Kamau Braithwaite, the historical positioning Schmidt does is less convincing, and without even a quoted line or two to judge him by the reader is unlikely to remember much about Braithwaite at all.

The net effect is of a set of newspaper profiles of modern poets. This effect gets gradually worse towards the end of the twentieth century poets, though many twentieth century poets are well-known enough that the reader can supply some of the context for themselves (and probably is familiar with the poetry). Auden, Eliot, Yeats, and Kipling, and even Larkin, Plath, Hughes and Heaney, need very little introduction to those who've read even a little recent poetry. The book would be better for some culling of those poets whose work is not yet in this class.

Overall, a fascinating read. But if you're not the sort of person reading modern poetry fairly regularly, the last three or four hundred pages will probably be largely skimmed.

Schmidt's history opens with an occasion on which he chaired a debate between Heaney, Walcott and Brodsky, contemporary giants - hence a portrait of himself in situ with the Gods - but its true opening scene is a typically more casual one mentioned in aside - where he tells us that his father disclaimed any further interest in his prospects when he announced his intention to publish poetry; he had put himself beyond the pale, made himself "a gambler" at best, and it is this chatty comfortableness along with self aggrandizement which holds the charm of this survey. Schmidt's paternal conference has the air of "Brideshead Revisited" as the painter Charles's father wonders aloud what became of a cousin who had run through his allowance early, gone off to Australia perhaps? Wherever possible in his account of the poets from Langland and Gower to his own stable of Khalvatis and Cissons Schmidt tries to give the impression that he was there, in spirit if not in person, and it is his identification of publishers' base motives not less than poets' fleeting visions which conspire to make this not so much a critical sourcebook as a story of how English poetry wound its roots into a tree.

Of the eighteenth century Tory publisher and clubman Tonson, whose Kit Kat club saw writers gathering with him to eat superb pies, he remarks that it was clever of him to gather writers round him so that he could pick off their completed works like berries ripened off the bush. It is just possible, he allows, that writers and publisher actually enjoyed each other's company socially. Of the printer who bought out Milton's copyright from his widow for an additional eight pounds after a total payment of fifteen, he observes that this was a good buy. The fathers of poets are viewed by Schmidt companionably as "men of substance", if they have wealth, and the sorry ends of poets who do not have such means or a career besides come to seem regular as passing calendar leaves. Spenser's work went up in flames, he ended very poor. Charlotte Mayhew, a favourite of Hardy's, consigned to a friend the copy of her poem taken in that great man's hand, and drank bleach. These, as well as the publishers' copyists, scribes and outgoings for paper are the cost of eloquence: a life in foolscap.

What emerges from the trawl of centuries is a generalism not common in this age of political axe grinders for critics: Schmidt sees that the ageing rebel turned conservative Wordsworth ("the silent muser had become the comfortable talker") echoes across centuries the radical turned arch-conservative Eliot, both critics in their age who turned their backs on ground broken. A half page on the dogs at poets' sides and what they tell us of their owners - Pope, Byron, Elizabeth Barret - is a gem. The readings of the poets are quirky but often fair: Browning left nine tenths of his work not worth re-reading, but that leaves a tenth that stands, a huge amount. Donne gets a quick seeing to - too clever and abstruse - Raleigh, with his deathbed nerves of steel, is "a man of flesh and blood". More often than not it is a chain of well chosen adjectives that makes Schmidt's prosecution or defense briefly and irrefutably - Johnson, despite his sloth, had "put so many projects into motion" that he achieved them, Dryden was happy to be top of his heap and did not "struggle with himself" to get higher. He quotes the great critics and sources so regularly - Aubrey, Wharton, Hazlitt, Eliot - that the intrusion of an occasional croney of his own - Cissons, Donald Davies - draws you up short. We had come to believe Schmidt was ensconced there in the Mermaid Tavern, what does this latter day vaingloriousness here? In these bowings to others' views he sometimes loses his tone - at his best he either lifts great critical cases outright or makes his own gruff motions to the jury, often digging up a soul long lost to view in the dungeons of posterity's Old Bailey.
It is a vast book. I have still not reached the twentieth century, though those I've browsed of the contemporary listings do not retain his scabrous touch. Pity. He leaves to other publisher-writers the honour of regaling us with tales of chicanery in his own poets' contracts. Or he reveres too much his comfortable perch with them to risk scaring his own poets from his own pie shop. Still. It's not possible to skip while reading through his earlier centuries. His greatest achievement is to make English poetry live like a story you do not wish to miss parts of - you never know when Burns will echo Piers Ploughman, you do not know when Schmidt's map, like a three dimensional model, will let you see the Pearl poet peeping up at the bottom of the sea beneath a fishing trip by some contemporary craft.

Litcrit, that sad and weary and so often maligned and detested human endeavor, has produced a flicker of luminous hope in Michael Schmidt's latest and probably magnum opus. Like Samuel Johnson's long-previous work of the same title, to wit: Schmidt aspires to venerate with his book, this is not only a joyous adulation of the greatest and grandest poets in English from the language's emergence out of the melange of Norman French, vernacular Latin, and myriad Celtic and other influences, but also an absolutely fascinating, endlessly readable, and even raucous romp through the history of poetry in English. As a professor of English, I'm always reluctant to assign readings in criticism because students, already recalcitrant or even hostile toward the literature itself, will turn and walk away, perhaps forever, when faced with the pedantic and pedagogical masturbation which is way too much litcrit. Maybe Schmidt's work will change that; I do intend to use a bit or two in the coming semester. The essays are generally fairly brief or, if longer, are sufficiently well-written to engage even reluctant readers. Unlike most histories, Schmidt with an amazingly multicultural, non-canonical insight, includes American, Australian, Caribbean, female and other minority poets such as the Countess of Pembroke; Isabella Whitney, Edward Brathwaite; and Derek Walcott. Truly an amazing book.

I can't believe I read the whole thing. You may find yourself saying the same thing too I you should so choose to tackle Schmidt's lengthy analysis on the history of English poetry. With that statement I suppose is the warning. Reading this book from cover to cover is probably not for the average reader. You have to really love poetry and not just the language but what goes into it, what resides behind the words in the fabric of each poet's life. The book is not without merit though for the casual poetry semi-enthusiast. It is also a pretty enjoyable read for quick bite analysis. Pick it up, turn to an era, poet, or genre, and away you go for a quick 10-15 minute before going to sleep read. I was reluctant to give this book 4 stars tending towards a lower rating due to the weightiness, but the fact that I made it through speaks to the entertaining value of Schmidt's writing. To make literary analysis readable is no small feat.

Michael Schmidt is not without opinions. You may find yourself vehemently in disagreeance or enthusiastically joining the choir and singing along. For instance, Schmidt pretty much holds low opinion of the likes of Alan Ginsburg and his use of mind altering drugs to create poetry with little form. "Ginsburg dropped on American poetry like a bomb; his generation outgrew him and American poetry has outgrown him." It's not so much that Schmidt has an opinion. Of literary criticism, that is to be expected. But instead, it is that Schmidt offers up his opinions as imperatives, absolutes not to be countered.

Reading Schmidt's book it's as if all of English poetry revolves around Ezra Pound and T.S. Eliot. He is downright ebullient in his praises of the two. "After Pound we read poetry differently." and "In The Waste Land he demanded to be read differently from other poets. He alters our way of reading for good, if we read him properly." And so it goes in Schmidt's world poetic view of the ushering in of modernism. Elsewhere, Schmidt decries the loss of formal verse or at least verse that respects formalism. It is here that he finds the true poet's art. Again an opinion presented as an imperative.

Schmidt is in need of conciseness. He is self-critical is his choosing of format biting off too much swallowing too little. He spends precious pages to launch campaigns for regional poets, virtual unknowns, and underappreciates. These are pages, he could be spending making a case for his St. Eliot and St. Pound sainthood. If a poet caters to a specific culture with a specific language virtually unintelligible to the rest of the English speaking world, why be inclusive? Toss 'em out and save 'em for the regional anthologies. Sorry about the preceding colloquial language, friends.

With all this criticism, Schmidt's massive book is a treasure for poetry lovers. It is high brow in places, but when you finish reading the whole thing or just bits and pieces you will know more about poetry, appreciate more in depth poetry, and be indebted to the history and love of language that precedes us and will succeed us. Literary infinitum by good friends. Read on.

This is not so much a book for reading (who could sustain the thought of such a long term concentration for pleasure) but for browsing. I began by looking up some of my favorite poets and reading about then, then reading some of the work of their contemporires that Schmidt describes. In other words, the strength of the book for me was that impetus to rediscover the lesserknown poems of poets I've always liked and the concomitant discover of new poets with whom I was unfamiliar. That's why I say it's a bedside book; you can browse in it while snuggled up and then jot down some new poetry to check out on your next visit to the library. A worthwhile investment for the library of any scholar or intellectual, and especially strong on the poets of the first 2/3 of the twentieth century.

This book is a whopping 975 pages, and is recommended for the die-hard poetry enthusiast, especially those who are interested in the history of English poetry. It covers the history of the English poets and poetry from the 14th century to the present.

There is much to savor in this book, though readers familiar with the works of some of the poets covered in here may not always agree with the opinions of the author about said poet and work. Schmidt can be condescending and overly opinionated at times. Nevertheless, I found the book highly readable. The author has an engaging style of writing, and what could very well be a tedious read turns out to be interesting and illuminating.

I like the way the book is arranged with unique chapter titles that entice the reader to explore the contents. I kept this for bedtime reading, choosing chapters based on my interest in a particular period. For example, the chapter titled "Winter Is Good" appealed to me because I happen to like the poets covered ( the Bronte sisters, Emily Dickinson, Christina Rossetti, and Dante Gabriel Rossetti). I discovered little nuggets that helped me understand some of these amazing writers/ poets. For example, Charlotte Bronte declares that she was once poetical, "when I was sixteen, seventeen, eighteen and nineteen years old - but I am now twenty-four approaching twenty-five - and the intermediate years are those which begin to rob life of its "superfluous colouring." Imagine being jaded by twenty-five! This book will probably be enjoyed by those who have a true love for English poetry and also for readers who have a curiosity about the background to these works.

It is no small irony that Schmidt takes his title from his curmudgeonly Eighteenth Century ancestor, Samuel Johnson. The irony is that Johnson, while judgmental, was at least interesting in his thundering declarations.

I cannot for the life of me understand why all the other reviewers find this work daring or controversial. Schmidt says nothing new. He is, in fact, the most diplomatic of judges. And I challenge any reader to find an unequivocal take on any of the poets. He inevitably has both good and bad things to say.

A further irony is that the title of the book is a misnomer. Yes, Schmidt provides a few scanty biographic facts, but a better title might be The History of Metrics or something of the sort. The book is mostly concerned with the form English poetry has taken over the past several hundred years.

Above all, Schmidt hates exegetics. Don't expect in depth explorations of a poem's meaning or the evaluation of poet's oevre. Truly, this book reads like a hopscotch through the history of meter and rhyme. No wonder it only took him ten months to write the 900 or so pages. He didn't have to think!

Schmidt's boldness is nearly unmatched among literary critics. For this reason alone, his book, Lives of the Poets, is a stimulating read. Of course, there are problems with the book. He spends nearly a third of his book on the last fifty years, after swiftly encompassing the rest of English poetical history in the first two thirds. A few glaring omissions are almost unforgivable, such as James Merrill and A.R. Ammons. One must remember, however, that Schmidt is a publisher by trade, and not really a literary critic. Even Samuel Johnson wrote about bad poets, though it may have been his advisors who pushed for such a shift of emphasis. In the end, one is often refreshed and enlightened by this book.

Should I review a book I've barely read one-fourth of?

I guess I have to, because it'll take me forever to finish it, and when I do finish it, I'll probably start over again. I'm treasuring every word. Schmidt's range of knowledge is so broad, his opinions so generous, his love of poetry so palpable in every word. And I'm learning so much. I'm a poet and a teacher...but I'd never heard of Richard Rolle, knew next to nothing about Joseph Langland or John Skelton or Thomas Campion (about whom I've just finished reading).