“Vernon Shetley’s book makes a tactful diagnosis of contemporary poetry and a daring prescription for curing an ailing patient. It combines a close look at how poems operate with a sensitivity to the changing within an individual poet’s work and a sophisticated sense of the varieties of recent literary theory. . . . Shetley proves himself a fine reader of individual poems and poets. . . . The work is engaging and energetic from start to finish.” — Willard Spiegelman , American Literature
"After the Death of Poetry is a superbly written, carefully argued, and very timely analysis of the situation of poetry. Mr. Shetley is one of the most intelligent, imaginative, and erudite critics of contemporary poetry that we have. He combines, as so few critics do, an exquisite sensitivity to literary style with a theoretically toughened and historically grounded understanding of the place of poetry in relation to the general culture." — Alan Shapiro, author of Covenant
"Shetley reveals himself as the most powerful new voice in the criticism of poetry. He writes with enormous confidence, skill, and nuance. The audience for this work will be those who ponder the question of poetry's place in America's culture, those interested in the three poets studied here, as well as those concerned with current cultural debate." — Helen Vendler, Harvard University