SOURCE: “The Work of Louis Simpson,” in On Louis Simpson: Depths Beyond Happiness, edited by Hank Lazer, University of Michigan Press, 1988, pp. 245–57.

In the following essay, originally published in three separate sections in 1958, 1960, and 1976, respectively, Bly praises the power and sensitivity of Simpson's verse, particularly in dealing with World War II, but cites shortcomings in his choice of traditional forms and attachment to certain quotidian subjects.

[The three sections of the following essay, here presented collectively, were originally published separately in 1958, 1960, and 1976, respectively.]

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Louis Simpson's poems are outstanding among those of the younger poets because of the experience that lies behind them. He has an advantage over other poets before he begins to write a poem because his experience seems strangely deeper: the poems suggest hopeless moods, profound voyages into water over his head, massive disappointments and failures. He is deeply aware, for instance, of living in one...