In this new selection of poems by Karl Shapiro, master literary
craftsman John Updike provides a long-overdue reassessment of the
Pulitzer Prize-winning poet who first rose to prominence with his poems
about war.
Updike's great personal respect and affection for Shapiro's work
resonate throughout the essay he wrote to introduce the volume: "Karl
Shapiro's tone is breezy, surly, rapturous as the mood rapidly shifts.
The last lines often stub our toes and invite us to reread. The
concreteness can seem defiant. . . . His feet planted on the
substantive, he could be modest and casual but also bold, with the
boldness of truth personally verified." In the poems he's assembled,
Updike selected broadly from the entire span of Shapiro's writing life,
and his introduction establishes an enduring place in American
literature for the poet whose pungency and vast range of subjects have
helped define American poetry of the postwar period.
About the American Poets Project
Elegantly designed in compact editions, printed on acid-free paper, and
textually authoritative, the American Poets Project makes available the
full range of the American poetic accomplishment, selected and
introduced by today's most discerning poets and critics.