Wilbur, Richard 1921–

Wilbur is an American Pulitzer Prize-winning poet, critic, and editor. The formal wit and grace of his poetry have inspired comparison with the metaphysical poets. (See also Contemporary Authors, Vols. 1-4, rev. ed.)

Aristotle praised the [poet's] gift of metaphor-making, the power to fuse the elements of a scattered or fragmented reality into meaningful new unities. Richard Wilbur has that gift, that power, and, in addition, the patience and perseverance of the craftsman, the carpenter, who respects his medium and submits himself to the slow task of fitting matter to design, theme to object. This combination of qualities has enabled him to write poems that are eminently well made: they are brilliant, strong in structure, and elegant. He works in traditional metrical forms and stanzas because, as he puts it, "The strength of the genie comes of his being confined in a bottle." He evidently likes the resistance that...

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