Invisible Listeners: Lyric Intimacy in Herbert, Whitman, and Ashbery Paperback - 2007

First line

I hope to describe here George Herbert's startling accomplishment in revising the conventional vertical address to God until it approaches the horizontal address to an intimate friend.

From the rear cover

"A new book by Helen Vendler is always cause for excitement, especially to readers of poetry. Invisible Listeners goes to the heart of our experience of lyric. It reinforces one of Vendler's central beliefs: that lyric is not just a decorative art, but an art crucial to our social and ethical lives."--Bonnie Costello, Boston University, author of Shifting Ground: Reinventing Landscape in Modern American Poetry

"Helen Vendler has written an exemplary book of critical reading, an expert commentary whose quietly assumed learning is a model of critical modesty and strength. She has always been able to convey the subtle effects of poetic art, and here, once again, her luminous interpretations catch fire in a voicing of great lyric verse."--Angus Fletcher, City University of New York, author of A New Theory for American Poetry

"With her hallmark expertise, Helen Vendler analyzes various strategies observable in each poet at issue and (as usual) shows herself to be absolutely at home in admiring the procedures of very different poets. This is a highly professional exercise, dedicated--as Vendler is always dedicated--to enhancing the aesthetic rewards of engaged reading."--William H. Pritchard, Amherst College, author of Shelf Life: Literary Essays and Reviews