Selected Poems

Mark Van Doren writes within the great English tradition of expression--a lyric poet dealing with the universal concerns of birth, life, and death. A winner of the Pulitzer Prize, he is preeminent among a group of poets who have stayed apart from the radical experimentation of much modern poetry, and who are, more and more, coming into their own.

This selection of his poetry, made by the distinguished author himself, is the long-awaited answer to an insistent public demand. The body of Van Doren's work over the years is extensive and various, and here for the first time is a volume of convenient size representing all his work, early and late.

The Selected Poems form an engrossing account of the development of a poet and of the perfection of his craft, as well as a moving personal testament.

Mark Van Doren is distinguished in other literary fields besides poetry. His Shakespeare and The Noble Voice remain as landmarks of literary criticism; and Nobody Say a Word and Other Stories is a lesson in the special and difficult craft of the short story. He has taught for many years at Columbia, but he ang his wife, the novelist Dorothy Van Doren, spend as much time as they can on their Connecticut farm.