James Tate has emerged as one of the most prominent American poets of recent years. As winner of the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, the Tanning Prize, the William Carlos Williams Award, and the Yale Series of Younger Poets Award, among others, Tate by any measure is one of the country’s most important contemporary poets. Yet he has received inadequate critical attention, perhaps because his poetry doesn’t lend itself to easy summary or explication. On James Tate aims to correct that perception and help readers approach this often-misconstrued poet with increased understanding and insight. With new contributions by Mark Ford, Kevin Hart, Katy Lederer, Marjorie Perloff, Bin Ramke, and Andrew Zawacki, this book includes diverse critical approaches to Tate’s poetry-from critics whose approaches range from the Language and post-Language poetry movements to New Criticism.

This book will appeal to general readers of poetry, especially those familiar with James Tate’s poetry; to scholars and critics of contemporary American poetry; and to poets. No other books on Tate’s poetry currently exist; thus On James Tate is essential to anyone doing research on Tate’s poetry.