Gr 9 Up-Edward FitzGerald would be stunned to learn that today his poem is taught in world history, English, Asian literature, and even grammar courses (though perhaps not often at the secondary level). This collection of essays (from 1971 to 2001) provides a good introduction to the work's fascinating origin, publication history, and revisions, and to FitzGerald's private life. A chronology and bibliography add to its value. An article on FitzGerald's (not highly esteemed) translations of Calderon may not be particularly memorable, but other pieces make up for it. A chapter from Vinni Marie D'Ambrosio's 1989 book on T. S. Eliot and the Rub iy t ranges far over American reaction to the poem and its influence on Eliot's juvenilia; Norman Page charts biographical and poetic ties between Tennyson and FitzGerald, and the reception of the Rub iy t in England. Not surprisingly, John Hollander's essay is especially sensitive and illuminating (if poorly proofread), as is Erik Gray's brilliant 2001 study of memory and forgetting in the poem, and its thematic echoes in Tennyson's "In Memoriam" and in Borges. There are many other typos ("those whom make their living by the sea,"), marring what is otherwise an interesting volume on a poem that is a landmark in literary, as well as in cultural, history.-Patricia D. Lothrop, St. George's School, Newport, RI Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.
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