Tate, Allen - Tate, Allen 1899–
Tate, Allen 1899–
An American poet and critic, Tate was a member of the Agrarian movement at Vanderbilt and later a New Critic. (See also Contemporary Authors, Vols. 5-8, rev. ed.)
Tate's best-known poem, the "Ode to the Confederate Dead," has to do, as he has told us, with "the failure of the human personality to function properly in nature and society." It is ironical from first to last, beginning with its title, for this Ode is presented not as the poet's share in a public celebration, but as the reflections of a solitary man at the cemetery gate. Tate's allusions are less private here than elsewhere, but it is doubtful whether without the help of his prose explication the reader could discover what is implied in its crowded symbolism. The poem was ten years in the writing and, when its final version was completed, failed to satisfy its author. Nor can it fully content the reader, in spite of the significance of its theme, its richness of...
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