This anthology takes a unique approach to the process of poetry. Each poem included in the book is followed by at least one earlier draft or version of that poem. The reader is thus able to explore the development of the poet’s vision and to make a variety of historical, aesthetic, and intellectual comparisons.
The poets represented have been chosen both on the basis of the aesthetic strength of their work and on the grounds of the availability of previous versions of their work. The inclusion of a number of selections by poets ranging from Dickinson and Yeats to Larkin, Plath, and P.K. Page allows readers to focus in some depth on the work of these poets. Though the anthology makes no claim to present a selection fully representative of different eras, regions, or poetic styles, the inclusion of a miscellany as a final chapter adds a substantial measure of breadth to the anthology.
Each chapter includes brief commentary by the editors, and questions follow each set of poems.
Comments
“Anyone who wants to achieve what the editors call ‘intimacy with the poem’ will find delight in this collection, which enables the reader to enter the poet’s workshop and see how poems are created. I don’t know any other book like this one, with its multitude of drafts of poems by English, American and Canadian poets. Writers, teachers of writing, and student writers will learn from it, not to mention those content to read and enjoy poetry.” — Bert Almon, University of Alberta
“In its celebration of the poetic incarnations that prefigure, recall and/or trouble ‘definitive’ versions, Visions and Revisions brings us into intimate relation with the poem as process … Wallenstein and Burr offer students, teachers, all lovers of poetry the thrill of the archives. They also invite us to linger between the versions, where we witness the dynamic of composition and, indeed, the very engine of poetic language at work: the curve and torque of image, tone, rhythm, cadence, syllable.” — Susan Holbrook, University of Windsor
PREFACE
INTRODUCTION
WILLIAM BLAKE 1757-1827
- Introduction
The Lamb
The Tyger
Chimney Sweeper
The Little Boy Lost
Holy Thursday
Infant Joy
Infant Sorrow
London
EMILY DICKINSON 1830-1886
- Heart! We will forget him!
Just lost, when I was saved!
I taste a liquor never brewed—
Safe in their Alabaster Chambers
He put the Belt around my life
I felt a Funeral, in my Brain
There came a Day at Summer’s full
I heard a Fly buzz—when I died—
Dare you see a Soul at the White Heat?
Because I could not stop for Death—
I felt a Cleaving in my Mind—
What mystery pervades a well!
As imperceptibly as Grief
WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS 1865-1939
- A Cradle Song
The Sorrow of Love
A Dream of Death
The Hosting of the Sidhe
The Two Trees
The Cap and Bells
WILFRED OWEN 1893-1918
- Anthem for Doomed Youth
The Send-Off
The Last Laugh
The Dead-Beat
S. I. W.
Smile, Smile, Smile
Inspection
Soldier’s Dream
To My Friend
1914
W.H. AUDEN 1907-1973
- Taller To-day
Consider
At the Grave of Henry James
In Memory of W.B. Yeats
DYLAN THOMAS 1914-1953
- The Hunchback in the Park
If I Were Tickled by the Rub of Love
Especially When the October Wind
The Force That Through the Green Fuse Drives the Flower
P.K. PAGE 1916-
- The Hidden Room
Single Traveller
The New Bicycle
Hologram
The Gold Sun
Lily on the Patio
PHILIP LARKIN 1922-1985
- At Grass
Deceptions
Coming
Reasons for Attendance
How
Days
SYLVIA PLATH 1932-1963
- Burning the Letters
Lady Lazarus
Medusa
Ariel
Edge
Words
STEPHEN WATSON 1954-
- Rainmaking with a Bow-String
The Lost Tobacco Pouch: A Song
Sorcerers Are Like Lions
Presentiments
The Rain That is Male
The Abandoned Old Woman
THREE POETS
ROBERT FROST 1874-1963
WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS 1883-1963
- The Locust Tree in Flower
Young Woman at a Window
ROBERT LOWELL 1917-1977
JOHN KEATS 1795-1821
MISCELLANY OF POETS
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE 1564-1616
MATTHEW ARNOLD 1822-1888
- Quiet Work
Philomela
Dover Beach
GERARD MANLEY HOPKINS 1844-1889
D.H. LAWRENCE 1885-1930
- Renascence
Violets
The Piano
Man’s Image
Bavarian Gentians
MARIANNE MOORE 1887-1972
JAMES EMANUEL 1921-
ALICIA OSTRIKER 1937-
- The Dogs at Live Oak Beach, Santa Cruz
The Kiss of Judas
STAN ROGAL 1950-
- Sub Rosa Transformation: 4
JILLBATTSON 1958-
- Parasites of Age and History
Desert Woman
APPENDIX: Translations
THE HOLY BIBLE
- Psalm 15 (1611)
Psalm 15: A Psalm of David (1917)
A Psalm of David: 15 (1952)
HOMER
- Odyssey XI (1616)
Odyssey XI (1673)
Odyssey XI (c. 1673-1677)
Odyssey XI (1897)
CATULLUS
- Caeli, Lesbia nostra (1931)
Caeli, Lesbia nostra (c. 1949)
Lesbia me dicit (c. 1735)
Lesbia me dicit (1931)
PETRARCH
- Sonetto in Vita 91 (1557)
Sonetto in Vita 91 (1557)
Sonetto in Vita 91 (1892)
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
ABOUT THE EDITORS
Barry Wallenstein is the author of five collections of poetry. He teaches literature and creative writing at City College in New York and is also an editor of the journal, American Book Review. He has made four recordings of his poetry with jazz collaboration, the most recent being a CD, Tony’s Blues (Cadence Jazz Records 2001).
Robert Burr currently lives and works in New York City and has taught freshman composition at Bronx Community College, Medgar Evers College, and The City College of New York. Mr. Burr’s poetry was recently published in chapbook form under the title Trading Bits of Dream (Ridgeway Press, 1999).
