Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #582938 in Books
• Published on: 1979-09
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 248 pages

Customer Reviews

A critical text that makes you go - 'Ah, yes! Of course!'
The concept of 'surface' as a poetical device that Perloff introduces in this book has become one of the most influential and important for post 1960s poetry. It is one of those ideas that, once understood, feels so correct (almost obvious) that it seems strange that no one has thought of it before. If you like Frank O'Hara this book will definately invigorate your enjoyment of him, opening up a new way of reading his poetry.

This is one of those rare academic books that sucseeds in communicting a real enthusiasm for its topic, is not in the slightest pompus or dry, and communicates its complex and new ideas with graceful clarity. Perloff writes in a way that feels totally uncontrived, and what could be more appropriate for a book that deals with the poetry of Frank O'Hara? This book is a ground breaking study that brings O'Hara's poetry to life; a vivid sense of O'Hara's personality is present in the book, just as it is in his own poetry. And I think it is this sympathy between the approach of Perloff and her subject that makes the book such a good read, as well as a technically brilliant one.