This volume of Alvin Feinman's poems presents a highly praised earlier work, "Preambles and Other Poems," combined with more recent poems. Of "Preambles" Alan Tate wrote, "This is a remarkable first book. . . . there is an acute and subtle sensibility at work. 'Pilgrim Heights' is one of the best poems by an American that I have seen in many years.' ."

From "Pilgrim Heights"

Something, something, the heart here Misses, something it knows it needs Unable to bless--the wind passes; A swifter shadow sweeps the reeds, The heart a colder contrast brushes.

So this fool, face-forward, belly Pressed among the rushes, plays out His pulse to the dune's long slant Down from blue to bluer element, The bold encompassing drink of air

And namelessness, a length compound Of want and oneness the shore's mumbling Distantly tells--something a wing's Dry pivot stresses, carved Through barrens of stillness and glare.

Originally published in 1990.

The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These paperback editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

According to Harold Bloom, "The best of Alvin Feinman's poetry is as good as anything by a twentieth-century American. His work achieves the greatness of the American sublime." Yet, in part because he published so sparsely, Feinman remained little-read and largely unknown when he died in 2008. This definitive edition of Feinman's complete work, which includes fifty-seven previously published poems and thirty-nine unpublished poems discovered among his manuscripts, introduces a new generation of readers to the lyrical intensity and philosophical ambition of this major American poet. Harold Bloom, a lifelong friend of Feinman, provides a preface in which he examines Feinman's work in the context of the strongest poets of his generation--John Ashbery, James Merrill, and A. R. Ammons--while the introduction by James Geary, who studied with Feinman at Bennington College, presents a biographical and critical sketch of this remarkable poet and teacher. Corrupted into Song restores Feinman's work to its rightful place alongside that of poets like Hart Crane and Wallace Stevens, with whom his poetry and poetics have so much in common.

According to Harold Bloom, "The best of Alvin Feinman's poetry is as good as anything by a twentieth-century American. His work achieves the greatness of the American sublime." Yet, in part because he published so sparsely, Feinman remained little-read and largely unknown when he died in 2008. This definitive edition of Feinman's complete work, which includes fifty-seven previously published poems and thirty-nine unpublished poems discovered among his manuscripts, introduces a new generation of readers to the lyrical intensity and philosophical ambition of this major American poet. Harold Bloom, a lifelong friend of Feinman, provides a preface in which he examines Feinman's work in the context of the strongest poets of his generation--John Ashbery, James Merrill, and A. R. Ammons--while the introduction by James Geary, who studied with Feinman at Bennington College, presents a biographical and critical sketch of this remarkable poet and teacher. Corrupted into Song restores Feinman's work to its rightful place alongside that of poets like Hart Crane and Wallace Stevens, with whom his poetry and poetics have so much in common.

This volume of Alvin Feinman's poems presents a highly praised earlier work, Preambles and Other Poems, combined with more recent poems. Of Preambles Allen Tate wrote, "This is a remarkable first book...There is an acute and subtle sensibility at work. 'Pilgrim Heights' is one of the best poems by an American that I have seen in many years.' " From "Pilgrim Heights" Something, something, the heart here Misses, something it knows it needs Unable to bless--the wind passes; A swifter shadow sweeps the reeds, The heart a colder contrast brushes. So this fool, face-forward, belly Pressed among the rushes, plays out His pulse to the dune's long slant Down from blue to bluer element, The bold encompassing drink of air And namelessness, a length compound Of want and oneness the shore's mumbling Distantly tells--something a wing's Dry pivot stresses, carved Through barrens of stillness and glare. Originally published in 1990. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.