Wordsworth and the Poetry of What We Are

"Wordsworth and the Poetry of What We Are deepens and renews a tradition of literary-critical reflection on Wordsworth's poetry. It is a book that everywhere shows evidence of the author's learning, subtlety, and critical acumen."—Simon Jarvis, University of Cambridge       

~Simon Jarvis

"Paul Fry's book should not only enrich the scholarly understanding of Wordsworth but also the larger cultural and literary conversation as to what poetry is and does."—Jonathan Arac, University of Pittsburgh   

~Jonathan Arac

"In Fry's informed philosophical scrutiny of Wordsworth's poetry, the convergence of humanity and Nature prompts a sustained reflection about the role a non-human world plays in Wordsworth's, or any other, humanism. Fry clarifies and advances an ongoing revolution in the unsentimental appreciation of Wordsworth's greatness. He has made a decisive contribution not only to Wordsworth studies but also to our understanding of poetical thinking."—Geoffrey Hartman, Yale University

 

 

~Geoffrey Hartman

"A genuinely original and provocative study of the poet who is, as Fry handsomely persuades us, the most original and provocative lyricist in the English literary tradition. A critic of sensitivity, conviction, and wit, Paul Fry is superbly readable.  No one who admires Wordsworth's poetry could fail to enjoy this thoughtful and engaging book."—Seamus Perry, Balliol College, University of Oxford

 

~Seamus Perry

"Neither apocalyptic, political, nor ecological, Paul Fry's Wordsworth is not gleaming red or green, but stony gray.  Fry is the first to convey, eloquently, the force of the poet's silences. After two centuries, Wordsworth's deepest, most disquieting harmonies are heard at last."—Marshall Brown, University of Washington

~Marshall Brown

"With searching wisdom and genial wit, Paul Fry unveils for us a new 'ontic' Wordsworth, a poet of human and non-human being, whose poems explore and explain the purpose of poetry."—Michael O’Neill, Durham University

~Michael O’Neill

"This the sort of book proceeds along a path that is far from straight or obvious but reaches a satisfying destination not in spite, but because of its wandering by the way. . . .  It is the work of someone who has been thinking, long and hard, about his subject for many years. . . .Wordsworth studies, and our sense of Wordsworth himself, will never be quite the same."—Willard Spiegelman, Studies in Romanticism

~Willard Spiegelman, Studies in Romanticism

"A valuable addition to Wordsworth studies. . . . It stands out because it implicitly questions the value of the field to which it belongs."—Jessica Fay, Bulletin & Review

~Jessica Fay, Bulletin & Review