In an unusual grouping of early and comtemporary twentieth-century poets with Emerson and Melville, this book explores imaginative resources for the poetry of the future. It brings out the testing of form by new phases of experience and the ability of poetry to transform experience by search for veracity in language. Contents: About Edwin Muir and the Escape from Myth; About D.H. Lawrence and the Search for Form; About the Dylan Thomas Puzzle; About Concord and the Astonished Muse; About Melville and the Angel; Of Land and Language, Rhythm and Rivering.