Abrams has given us a remarkable study, admirably conceived and executed, a book of quite exceptional and no doubt lasting significance for a number of fields - for the history of ideas and comparative literature as well as for English literary history, criticism and aesthetics.

    

    Eliot, contains essays from five earlier volumes: Pavannes and Divisions (1918), Instigations(1920), How to Read(1931), Make it New(1934), and Polite Essays(1937). The thirty-three essays contained in this collection are separated into three categories: The Art of Poetry, The Tradition, and Contemporaries. These essays showcase the range of Pound's interests, with topics ranging from modernist poetry to Japanese iconography, troubadour songs, and much more. Pound's influence on the modernist movement and literature as a whole makes this collection an important piece of literary history. With an introduction by T.S. Eliot.

    In the 20th century, however, he came to be regarded as one of the greatest English poets & painters, one whose insights have profoundly influenced such thinkers as Nietzsche, Freud & D.H. Lawrence. In this volume, a leading Blake scholar shows how the political & social events & movements of the 18th & early 19th centuries influenced or inspired many of his finest poems: "America," "Europe," "The Marriage of Heaven & Hell," "The French Revolution," "Songs of Innocence & of Experience," "The Four Zoas" etc. While the poems can be read on many levels, this in-depth critical study demonstrates that much of the strange symbolism of this poetry represents a literary campaign against the political tyranny of the day. For the 3rd edition, Erdman added much new material that came to light after the original publication of the book in 1954. Also included are over 30 illustrations, a Chronology, an Appendix of Additions & Revisions, & other materials. Written for students, scholars & specialists—anyone interested in the relationship of the poet's extraordinary symbolism & complex thought to the history of his own times—Erdman's meticulously documented study is the definitive treatment of this aspect of Blake's work. "For our sense of Blake in his own times we are indebted to David Erdman more than anyone else."—Times Literary Supplement.