Critical Essay by Thom Gunn
There are a few obvious misfires in [The Summer Anniversaries] (the only disastrous one being the final poem, which is really too close to Auden to be taken seriously), bu...
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Critical Essay by Alan Hollinghurst
Donald Justice's [Selected Poems] persistently haunt and are haunted by the past, to the extent that their present is characterised by a weary passivity, a ...
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Critical Essay by J. D. Mcclatchy
Donald Justice is an elusive poet, esteemed but not widely read, and it is a convenience to have so much of his work brought together in one volume [Selected Poems]&...
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Critical Essay by Lewis Turco
Mr. Justice writes a spare line, and he writes by the line, painstakingly. His determination to get the perfect word in the perfect place is absolute, and if he doesn&#x...
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Critical Essay by Vernon Young
I doubt if there are six poems in [Donald Justice's Selected Poems] which could be claimed for the public sensibility. But Justice has written a dozen lyrics I&#...
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Critical Essay by Doug Lang
Donald Justice is a conservative poet. He works within the established boundaries of modern poetry and makes no attempt to extend those boundaries. He is also a very liter...
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Critical Essay by Charles Molesworth
What some might see as proper formality might strike others as unnecessary stiffness. This difficulty is compounded in the case of Donald Justice, for his poetic ...
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Critical Essay by Thomas Swiss
From the beginning of his poetic career, Donald Justice has focused obsessively on a central theme: loss….
But it is not Justice's themes that first st...
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Critical Essay by Gerald Burns
Donald Justice has not improved since I reviewed Night Light a dozen years ago. [Selected Poems] reads like a very thin Tennessee Williams—little poems about obs...
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Critical Essay by Alan Young
[Many of the poems appearing in Selected Poems taken from Summer Anniversaries] have the feel of apprentice pieces, a formalistic and workshop atmosphere pervading…...
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Critical Essay by Calvin Bedient
[Selected Poems] is Justice at his best, as plain and poignant as he is fragmentary and narrow…. Consisting of shadows cast by the world just before dusk, his ...
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In the following essay, which is prefaced by commentary from Harvey Gross, Justice discusses the function of meter in poetry.
Donald Justice describes himself as "a rationalist defender of ...
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Below, Richman argues that in Justice's poetry form takes precedence over subject matter.
Donald Justice is one of our most reticent poets. He may very well be the most reticent poet of his ...
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In the following interview, Justice discusses various aspects of his work, including his literary influences and the importance of memory, meter, and music in his poetry.
[The Iowa Review:] Let�...
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In the following excerpt, Gioai considers Selected Poems, citing Justice's mastery of diverse forms and keen editorial sense as the skills which have helped produce a nearly perfect collection ...
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In the essay below, De Jong discusses the significance of music to Justice's poetry, noting his use of rhyme, assonance, consonance, and repetition and the way in which music has served as subj...
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In the following excerpt, Ehrenpreis focuses on theme in Justice's collection Departures.
Donald Justice has some kinship with Ashbery. The master to whom both seem deeply related is Wallace...
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In the following essay, Mezey praises the power of Justice's imagery and the seeming effortlessness with which it is evoked.
In an essay published about ten years ago, Donald Justice wrote: ...
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In the following essay, Bawer defends Justice's work against hostile critics, stating that the negative criticism stems from Justice's reluctance to conform to the styles of his peers.
...
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In the essay below, Gioia argues that Justice creates an intertextual dialogue in his poetry through his conscious borrowing from and response to other writers.
Anyone who reads Donald Justice�...
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Critical Essay by Thom Gunn
