Collected Poems and Selected Prose

Stanley Burnshaw has received many honors, including an award for creative writing from the National Institute of Arts and Letters, honorary degrees from the City University of New York and Hebrew Union College, and a "Special Stanley Burnshaw Issue" of Agenda (London). He divides his time between Martha's Vineyard and Key Biscayne.

"Stanley Burnshaw has played an active role on the literary scene since the late 1920s in many capacities - poet, critic, editor-publisher, fiction writer, memoirist, translator, anthologist, and theorist of poetry and translation. Besides collecting most of his poems for the first time, something which has long been overdue, this book gives a broad overview of his prose writing, including the whole last section of his biography/memoir of Robert Frost; a key chapter from his classic work of poetic theory, The Seamless Web; the definitive last word on his controversy with Wallace Stevens; and the whole text of his superb memoir/novella, My Friend, My Father. These are pieces that will never go out of fashion. As a poet, Burnshaw is a meticulous craftsman with a fine ear and a considerable lyric gift. The first section, Early and Late Testament, is not his strongest, but there are many fine poems here. Caged in an Animal's Mind (1963) and In the Terrified Radiance (1972) show Burnshaw at the peak of his powers as a poet, breaking through to an essential clarity and simplicity, as do some of the last poems. Burnshaw, now in his nineties, has made numerous small revisions in poems all through the book, and every single one of them is an improvement, [which] shows what a conscious craftsman and creative student of verse he remains. In sum, this book not only fills out the historical record of an important and enduring literary career, but also offers a wonderful range of good reading in both prose and poetry - in short, a living body of work." Morris Dickstein, Distinguished Professor of English and Senior Fellow, Center for the Humanities, Graduate Center of the City University of New York

• Foreword by Thomas F. Staley Early and Late Testament (1952) Early and Late Testament (Preamble) Time of Brightness (First Testament) Bread (Second Testament) The Iron Lands Do I Know Their Names? For a Workers' Road-Song All Day the Chill... Will You Remake These Worlds? (Third Testament) A Coil of Glass (I) Anchorage in Time (I) (Fourth Testament) This War Is Love A Coil of Glass (II) Hero Statues (Fifth Testament) Dialogue of the Heartbeat The Bridge Heartbeat Obbligato End of the Flower-World (Sixth Testament) Looking for Papa Among Trees of Light Coasts of Darkness In Strength of Singleness (Seventh Testament) Blood It Was Never This Quiet... When Was It Lost? Woodpecker Voices in Dearness... Song Aspires to Silence Anchorage in Time (II) (Eighth Testament) Two Men Fell in the Irish Sea Poetry: The Art Odes and Lyrics To a Young Girl Sleeping Innocence Wave Event in a Field The Fear Light Outlives All Shape Midnight: Deserted Pavements Random Pieces of a Man Waiting in Winter Outcast of the Waters Restful Ground Days Driving Song Willowy Wind The Hollow River Second-Hand Poems Anonymous Alba: En un vergier soiz folha d'albespiOrlÉans: Le temps a laissiÉ...Spire: NuditÉsSpire: Ce n'est pas toi...Spire: NativitÉSpire: Un parfum Éternel...Spire: BaisersSpire: FriselisSpire: VoluptÉCaged in an Animal's Mind (1963) Thoughts about a Garden Historical Song of Then and Now Summer Ravel and Bind Caged in an Animal's Mind Ancient of Nights Symbol Curse The Valley Between Thoughts about a Garden Petitioner Dogs Father-Stones Night of the Canyon Sun A Recurring Vision Midnight Wind to the Tossed The Axe of Eden Listen: Random Pieces of a Man Thoughts of the War and My Daughter A River Surface Preparation for Self-Portrait in Black Stone Mornings of St. Croix Boy over a Stream Letter from One Who Could Not Cross the Frontier Voyage: Journal Entry Nightmare in a Workshop Seven Clay A Rose Song Guide's Speech on a Road near Delphi Song of Nothings: In the Mountain's Shadow at Delphi I Think among Blank Walls Seedling Air Three in Throes Modes of Belief House in St. Petersburg Time Is a Double Line Second-Hand Poems Akhmatova: The MuseGeorge: Denk nicht zu viel...Éluard: L'AmoureuseVon Hofmannsthal: Eigene SpracheAlberti: El Ángel buenoIn the Terrified Radiance (1972) The Terrified Radiance The Terrified Radiance To a Crow Innocent War Gulls... Central Park: Midwinter The Finding Light Erstwhile Hunter Their Singing River (I) Not to Bereave... Underbreathing Song Emptiness... Procreations Women and Men Movie Poster on a Subway Wall End of a Visit The Echoing Shape Summer Morning Train to the City Women and Men Terah Isaac Talmudist What Plato Was Song of Succession En l'an... Dialogue of the Stone Other In the Coastal Cities Will of Choice Chanson Innocente The Rock Condor Festival Three Friends We Brought You Away As Before... Friend across the Ocean Wildness The Hero of Silence I. Dedication: An Eternity of Words II. Master and Pupils III. Soliloquy from a Window: Man and Flowers IV. Dialogue before Waking V. Fume VI. Into the Blond Torrent VII. The Waking Second-Hand Poems Paz: MÁs allÁ del amor Spire: Retour des Martinets Alberti: CanciÓn del Ángel sin suerte Alberti: El Ángel mentiroso Verhaeren: La BÊche Akhmatova: from "The White Flock" Unamuno: Me destierro... Mirages: Travel Notes in the Promised Land (1977) I. First Landscape II. Generations of Terror III. Blind Tale IV. Seventh-day Mirage V. The Rock VI. Talmudist VII. Marching Song VIII. Choices Later Poems (1977- ) Message to Someone Four Hundred Nights Away The House Hollow Argon Florida Seaside Old Enough at Last to Be Unsolemn Mind, If You Mourn at All To Wake Each Dawn Their Singing River (II) Speech, the Thinking-Miracle Man on a Greensward Social Poems of the Depression (from The New Masses and The Iron Land [1936]) The Crane-Driver Street Song: New Style I, Jim Rogers Mr. Tubbe's Morning Service Notes on the Poems Selected Prose My Friend, My Father Stevens' "Mr. Burnshaw and the Statue" The Poem Itself: "Discussing Poems into English" Thomas Mann Translates "Tonio KrÖger" A Future for Poetry: Planetary Maturity The Seamless Web Toward the "Knowable" Frost Index of Poem Titles and First Lines