Selected Poems (1938-1958): Summer Knowledge

Back cover: "In July of 1966 the New York literary community was shocked to learn that a heart-attack victim found in a Broadway hotel had been identified as the poet Delmore Schwartz. It was a tragic story. From the appearance of his first book of poems and stores, _In Dreams Begin Responsibilities_, in 1938, Schwartz had been the golden boy, a young culture-hero, of the liberal intellectuals. A series of remarkable books - the autobiographical _Genesis_, the play _Shenandoah_, the stories of _The World Is A Wedding_, and others - confirmed his reputation. Then a cruel mental illness took hold which wrecked his academic career and alienated him from the friends who tried in vain to help. A poet must be judged by his work, not the circumstances of his life. As this selection from his earlier books which he made himself and published in 1959 as _Summer Knowledge_ clearly demonstrates, Delmore Schwartz's secure position among the foremost poets of his generation. But, in a dramatic way - and it was always one of the touchstones of his art that he could dramatize ideas in poetry as few others could - the tragedy of his later life and lonely death are inseparable from his work. Like some tormented figure in a myth, Delmore Schwartz acted out in his life, as he wrote of it in poems and stories, the alienation of the poet from our society." "Author's Note: Most of the poems in the first half of the book have been revised since they were first published in 1938. I have also included several poems written at that time but never published before. The second half of the book consists of a selection of poems written during the past five years and, in addition, several poems selected from _Vaudeville for a Princess_ and one poem from _Genesis: Book One_, a long narrative poem which appeared in 1943. Thus, in a very real sense, all of the poems in this volume are selected poems; and, since for me, as for many poets, the temptation to revise one's work is often irresistible, there is also a sense in which all of the poems in this selection are new: I have not always included various revisions, but I have examined and chosen among them from the point of view which is signified by the title of the volume: _Summer Knowledge_."