A bare and unpretentious way of speaking, brevity of phrase and concentration on the matter nearest to hand: such features of a language of survival are those [Louis Zukofsky's] work has chiefly tended to establish. Its intrinsic qualities are richer and deeper….

At the age of 22 he conceived the idea of a poem that should run concurrent with his life, predetermined by number of sections or movements but undetermined as to form or content, the determined but unforeseeable course of history. He called it "A" and finished it after he had turned 70. (p. 11)

He shared Pound's conception of poetry as something semi-musical but in some respects his native gifts were more like Joyce's. He had a deep sense of dedication, great technical skill and little imagination. He combined an extremely keen literary sense with a grasp of large intellectual structure. He too had the strength to be sentimental...