Lyric/Anti-Critic: Essays on Contemporary Poetry

This book begins with Douglas Barbour's well-known essay by that title, and includes a number of recent essays on the poetry of various Canadian poets, as well as some Australian and New Zealand poets, and one long essay on the work of American poet Susan Howe. Since first visiting Australia and New Zealand in 1984, Barbour has developed a growing interest in the poetry of both countries, which share a wide range of colonial and postcolonial experiences with Canada. He has always been interested in US poetry in the Pound-Williams line, and this has led to his recent work on Howe. The book brings together the best of Barbour's criticism over the past two decades.