Helen Gardner wrote and edited literary criticism on English poetry and drama, especially John Donne, T. S. Eliot and the metaphysical tradition. The Metaphysical Poets, which she edited, brings together writers such as Donne, George Herbert and Andrew Marvell with notes and an influential critical framework for reading their wit, argument and devotional intensity. The Art of T. S. Eliot examines Eliot’s poetry through structure, imagery and religious thought, while The Business of Criticism reflects more broadly on how literary judgement should work. Gardner also edited The New Oxford Book of English Verse 1250–1950, giving her catalogue an important anthological strand alongside criticism. Her prose is scholarly but generally direct, grounded in close reading rather than fashionable theoretical vocabulary. English literary criticism, metaphysical poetry and T. S. Eliot studies are the main discovery areas. Read more Less
No products in the cart.