Quasi-unintelligibility (Part 1) April 10, 2013: Seven years ago this month Helen Vendler published one of my favorite of her books, Poets Thinking. In particular I love its chapter on Alexander Pope, which starts off by recounting the frustration and dismay Vendler experienced while taking part in a symposium of academics brought together at Harvard in the early 80s to discuss Pope’s long [...] by Timothy Donnelly

Interview with Helen Vendler November 19, 2012: Here's an interview with Helen Vendler from The Boston Globe, wherein she talks about the easy-breezy poetry of John Ashbery, her admiration of D.A Powell, and her favorite novels. JK—Vendler doesn't read novels. Seriously. BOOKS: What are you reading currently? VENDLER: I was sorting out books and I picked up John Ashbery’s [...] by Harriet Staff

‘We are eager to harbor the next Homer, the next Kant, or the next Dickinson’: Helen Vendler on Accepting Future Poets and Painters to Harvard November 1, 2012: Helen Vendler wrote this essay as a proposal "that alumni interviewers receive some guidance on how to understand, attract, and evaluate applicants whose creative talents might otherwise be overlooked." Here it is, altered slightly, in Harvard Magazine. She writes: We are eager to harbor the next Homer, the next Kant, or the next [...] by Harriet Staff