Dennis O'Driscoll vs. John Hollander
Side-by-side comparison of two thinkers
Dennis O'Driscoll
1954 – 2012
Dennis O'Driscoll was an Irish poet, essayist, critic and editor. Regarded as one of the best European poets of his time, Eileen Battersby considered him "the lyric equivalent of William Trevor" and a better poet "by far" than Raymond Carver. Gerard Smyth regarded him as "one of poetry's true champions and certainly its most prodigious archivist. His book on Seamus Heaney is regarded as the definitive biography of the Nobel laureate.
"Poetry is a highly visible art in Ireland ; in our rapidly secularised society, it has become a kind of erzatz religion, applying the elevated ceremonial langua…"
John Hollander
1929 – 2013
John Hollander was an American poet and literary critic. At the time of his death, he was Sterling Professor Emeritus of English at Yale University, having previously taught at Connecticut College, Hunter College, and CUNY Graduate Center. He was a 1990 MacArthur Fellow and poet laureate of Connecticut 2007–2009.
"'Poetic form' is a very deep matter that covers much more than phonological or typological pattern."
Connections
Both wrote about: