Archibald MacLeish

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Archibald MacLeish (Magill Book Reviews)

At a glance:

Between 1925 and 1960, Archibald MacLeish in the opinion of some critics, at least was among the finest of modern American poets, ranking with Robert Frost, Wallace Stevens, and William Carlos Williams. Other critics argued, however, that his work owed a great deal to T. S. Eliot and Ezra Pound, and that MacLeish seemed to change his opinions to suit the times. He did win three Pulitzer Prizes, a number of other awards, and many honorary degrees. His reputation as a poet, however, diminished in his later years and has not recovered since his death in 1982.

Scott Donaldson’s biography makes it clear that the most impressive fact about MacLeish’s career is that he was able to write as much significant poetry as he did while pursuing careers in such varied fields as the law, journalism (he wrote many articles for FORTUNE during its first eight years), library work (he was Librarian of Congress), public service (he was an assistant secretary of state during Franklin Roosevelt’s presidency), and teaching—he spent more than a decade on the faculty at Harvard. In most of these endeavors he was signally successful.

MacLeish’s personal life was equally fortunate, at least on the surface. He was undoubtedly charming, and he and his wife moved in increasingly exalted social circles. But Donaldson shows, without undue emphasis on the dark side, that MacLeish’s marriage was troubled by his habit of pursuing women other than his wife, and that his three children found him a distant and sometimes harsh father. The approval he sought without success from his own father he withheld from his children, especially his older son. People who knew him sometimes found him a difficult friend, not always reliable.

Donaldson is an experienced and thorough biographer. He provides a sympathetic and detailed story of MacLeish’s life and achievements. Donaldson is not a critic of poetry, and his comments on MacLeish’s poems are not searching, but in other respects this is an excellent study of a once-popular writer who has recently been neglected.

Sources for Further Study

Booklist. LXXXVIII, April 1, 1992, p. 1424.

Chicago Tribune. May 24, 1992, XIV, p. 1.

Choice. XXX, October, 1992, p. 296.

The Christian Science Monitor. May 15, 1992, p. 14.

Library Journal. CXVII, March 1, 1992, p. 92.

Los Angeles Times Book Review. June 28, 1992, p. 2.

The New Leader. LXXV, June 1, 1992, p. 20.

The New York Times Book Review. XCVII, July 12, 1992, p. 13.

Publishers Weekly. CCXXXIX, March 2, 1992, p. 55.

The Washington Post Book World. XXII, May 3, 1992, p. 3.

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