Dana Gioia stands out as one of the most important poets, critics, and defenders of the arts in our day. His advocacy of the renewal of rhyme and meter in poetry, his work as chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, and his recent efforts to strengthen the role of Catholic artists in American life have made a great impact on our public culture over four decades. Poet and scholar Matthew Brennan provides a thorough introduction to the life and work of this living classic of American poetry. The Colosseum Critical Introduction Series Each title in the Colosseum Critical Introduction Series provides a thorough study of the life and work of an important American writer who has sought to renew the craft and deepen the intellectual and spiritual dimensions of contemporary poetry. Intended to be at once brief and compelling, these introductory texts will help readers find their way into some of the best voices in the literature of our day.

Poetry. "Matthew Brennan's impressively wide-ranging new volume marks a major imaginative breakthrough for an already fine poet. Mixing personal memory and cultural history, Brennan's poems incisively chronicle the joys, sorrows, and astonishments of a now vanished Twentieth Century America"--Dana Gioia.