"Gioia joins W. H. Auden, Randall Jarrell, and D. H. Lawrence in embracing criticism that is insightfully intellectual and surprisingly personal . Always a canny discussant of contemporary poetics, Gioia again provides vital guidance for evaluating poetry that will appeal to tenured professors and armchair aficionados alike." Booklist "Readers who may doubt that poetry is for them will find in Gioia a discerning guide to its power and pleasures." National Review "Few critics write more engagingly and perceptively about poetry than Dana Gioia .

" Michael Dirda, Washington Post PRAISE FOR DANA GIOIA'S OTHER BOOKS: "Highly enjoyable . Studying with Miss Bishop offers the opportunity to encounter writing as an act of civility." Wall Street Journal "[A] fantastically charming collection." Los Angeles Review of Books on Studying with Miss Bishop "Fascinating snapshots of remarkable encounters which, when brought together, chart a delightfully unusual path to literary success." Booklist on Studying with Miss Bishop "With perfect tonal and formal control, the poet's voice seems to emanate from somewhere between author and reader, between dream and memory." The New Criterion on Meet Me at the Lighthouse "An important book, and anyone who professes to care about the state of American poetry will have to take it into account." World Literature Today on C a n Poetry Matter? "Vibrant and inviting." The Washington Post on 99 Poems: New & Selected "Great riches in remarkably few pages.

" Booklist, Starred Review on Pity the Beautiful: Poems.