Laura Riding was born Laura Reichenthal in 1901. She became a well-known and prolific poet, critic, and editor during her expatriate years (1926-1939) in Europe. She and Robert Graves ran the Seizin Press and collaborated on works including the influential A Survey of Modernist Poetry (1927). Riding's many books from these years include Contemporaries and Snobs; Poet: A Lying Word; The Life of the Dead; Progress of Stories, and her Collected Poems of 1938. After a long hiatus, she returned to publishing in 1972 with The Telling. She wrote steadily until her death in 1991. Lisa Samuels has published essays on poetry and literary theory as well as a book of poems, The Seven Voices (1998). She teaches contemporary poetry at the university of Wisconsin, Milwaukee.

• AcknowledgmentsA Note on the TextCreating Criticism: An Introduction to Anarchism Is Not EnoughLaura Riding: A ChronologyTHE MYTHLANGUAGE AND LAZINESSTHIS PHILOSOPHYWHAT IS A POEM?A COMPLICATED PROBLEMALL LITERATUREMR. DOODLE-DOODLE-DOOAN IMPORTANT DISTINCTIONTHE CORPUSPOETRY AND MUSICPOETRY AND PAINTINGPOETRY AND DREAMSJOCASTAHOW CAME IT ABOUT?HUNGRY TO HEARIN A CAFEFRAGMENT OF AN UNFINISHED NOVELWILLIAM AND DAISY: FRAGMENT OF A FINISHED NOVEL AN ANONYMOUS BOOK THE DAMNED THING LETTER OF ABDICATION Notes on the Text Appendix I. Three Commentaries on Anarchism Is Not Enough Appendix II. Author to Critic: Laura (Riding) Jackson on 'Jlnarchism Is Not Enough" Selected Bibliography of Works by Laura Riding Selected Critical Bibliography