LONG POEMS

About the Book

The book makes use of the developed possibilities of modern American writing, enriched by centuries of European example and newly opened out to include free verse and the prose poem as well  as accentual-syllabic verse.  The author takes the position that all three forms are viable, as practised by the great experimenters of this century.  The book celebrates the fact that American poetry includes E.A.Robinson as well as William Carlos Williams; neither invalidates the other; they add up; one can have free verse as well as accentual-syllabic verse; and there is a place for the prose poem.   The idea is that American poetry offers a democratic welcome to a large variety of possibilities, following the example given by the national life, which has thrived on a principle of inclusion.

About the Author

Edward Loomis, author of HEROIC SPAIN, has been engaged with Spanish and Spanish-American literature and culture during the last seven years, concentrating on Rubén Darío and Antonio Machado, and the poems collected here come out of that effort. The idea of this book is that these poets were leaders in the Hispanic civilization, and were accepted as such. Their work shows some of the strengths of that civilization, decadent as they found it which is successful now partly because of them, and their work lives on as privileged by their talent and dedication.