Randall Jarrell: The Complete Poems
by Randall Jarrell
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Poet, novelist, critic, and teacher, Randall Jarrell was a diverse literary talent with a distinctive voice, by turns imaginative, realistic, sensitive, and ironic. His poetry, whether dealing with art, war, memories of childhood, or the loneliness of everyday life, is powerful and moving. A poet of colloquial language, ample generosity, and intimacy, Jarrell wrote beautifully "of the American landscape," as James Atlas noted inAmerican Poetry Review, "[with] a broad humanism that enabled show more him to give voice to those had been given none of their own." The Complete Poems is the definitive volume of Randall Jarrell's verse, includingSelected Poems (1955), with notes by the author;The Woman at the Washington Zoo (1960), which won the National Book Award for Poetry; andThe Lost World (1965), "his last and best book," according to Robert Lowell. This volume also brings together several of Jarrell's uncollected or posthumously published poems as well as his Rilke translations. show lessTags
Recommendations
Member Reviews
Many of the interior monologues are splendid, including the famous "Death of the Ball Turret Gunner," as well as "Next Day" and "The Woman at the Washington Zoo."
Jarrell, widely known as a first-rate (if often mean-spirited) critic of poetry, is greatly undervalued as a poet.
A masterful poet who has been forgotten by many in the 41 years since his too-early death.
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Author Information

40+ Works 5,035 Members
Randall Jarrell was born in Nashville, Tennessee on May 6, 1914. He earned a bachelor's and master's degrees from Vanderbilt University. His first book of poetry, Blood from a Stranger, was published in 1942. During World War II, he served with the Army Air Force as a control tower operator. His other books of poetry include Little Friend, Little show more Friend; Losses; and The Lost World. He won the National Book Award in 1961 for The Woman at the Washington Zoo. In addition to writing poetry, he reviewed it during a brief period spent as poetry editor for The Nation. Poetry and the Age and A Sad Heart at the Supermarket are collections of his essays as a poetry critic. His teaching career included stints at Kenyon College, the University of Texas, Sarah Lawrence College, the University of Illinois, and the University of North Carolina/Greensboro. He also was the 11th Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress, a position that now bears the title Poet Laureate. He was hit by a car in Chapel Hill, North Carolina and died in October 14, 1965 at the age of 51. (Bowker Author Biography) Randall Jarrell (1914-65) was a prolific poet, critic, and translator. His Complete Poems are available from FSG. (Publisher Provided) show less
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Awards and Honors
Distinctions
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- Randall Jarrell: The Complete Poems
- Original publication date
- 1969
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Statistics
- Members
- 308
- Popularity
- 103,458
- Reviews
- 3
- Rating
- (4.15)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper
- ISBNs
- 5
- ASINs
- 7





























































