Critical Biography of American Poet Richard Wilbur (b. 1921)

FAIN: FA-52972-07

Robert Ely Bagg
University of Massachusetts, Amherst (Amherst, MA 01003-9242)

Wilbur’s books have been widely read and justly honored for decades, and two fine book-length studies of his poems were published in the 90s, but no critical study to date treats his entire oeuvre—poems, translations, and criticism—and no biography exists. I am researching a critical biography that will give a full account of his life (which has been more dramatic and imperiled than commonly known) and his work (whose convictions, enigmas and virtues deserve closer attention than they've received). Wilbur will tell much of his own story via interviews I’ve recorded and many pithy, eloquent letters to friends (and others).