A Stanley Burnshaw Reader brings together selections from the major works of poetry and prose that have distinguished Burnshaw as one of the most important voices in twentieth-century letters. Included are essays from Burnshaw’s two pioneering critical works: The Seamless Web, praised by the New York Times Book Review as “a defense of poetry that removes it from the realm of man’s spiritual luxuries and places it preeminently among his instruments of survival”, and The Poem Itself, a book that deals with forty-five poets of the last century in an entirely novel way which, as Lionel Trilling observed, “allows the Englishspeaking reader an unprecedented intimacy with poems in the original tongues.” Along with a generous excerpt from Robert Frost Himself, this volume offers a representative selection of Burnshaw’s poetry and his translations of other poets’ work.

A Stanley Burnshaw Reader affords those unfamiliar with Burnshaw an ideal introduction to his work. At the same time, readers who know his writings will discover new insights into his long and distinguished career.