Equipment for Living
On Poetry and Pop Music

I fully admit my disappointment in this book is my own fault. I think when I checked it out, I was expecting/hoping for more an exploration of form and function, and while there is a bit of that, I find it gets frequently derailed by analysis and criticism of specific artists and works. My minimal k......more

lengthy essay on Frederick Seidel deserves a higher rating, much of the rest of the book deserves a lower rating.......more

Michael Robbins and Christopher Ricks cover a lot of the same ground, although the poet isn't nearly as fixated on "age and the only end of age." No matter: Robbins' analysis is brilliant, and what's more, he's convulsively hilarious when he's taking a poetaster/Neil Young down a peg. (There's a jok......more

This is a fun read both for poetry lovers and pop music fans -- usually, quick and dirty reviews heavy on quick insight and light on dirty details. Taking his cue from a Geoffrey Hill poem burrowing a phrase from Giacomo Leopardi, Robbins stays true throughout this essay collection to the principle......more