The Best American Poetry 1998

The appearance ofThe Best American Poetryevery September is an eagerly awaited rite of fall -- as evidenced by soaring sales and terrific reviews. The popularity of the series is "ample proof that poetry is thriving"(The Orlando Sentinel),and this year's volume will dazzle and delight, instruct and inspire. Under the guiding vision of master poet John Hollander -- one of America's most erudite literary minds --The Best American Poetry 1998spotlights the imaginative power and insight of our finest poets at the fin-de-siecle. Diverse in form and method, the poems display an unwavering nobility of expression, maintaining the uncompromising artistic standards essential toThe Best American Poetrytradition as it enters its second decade. With a foreword by series editor David Lehman and with comments from the poets illuminating their work,The Best American Poetry 1998will lead you on an exhilarating and inspiring literary adventure.

John Hollander is the Sterling Professor of English at Yale University. He has published fifteen collections of poetry, most recently Selected Poetry and Tesserae and Other Poems (1994). He is also the author of several volumes of literary criticism and the editor of a number of anthologies, including the two-volume American Poetry: The Nineteenth Century. David Lehman initiated The Best American Poetry series in 1988. His most recent collection of poems is Valentine Place (1996). He teaches at New York University and is on the core faculty of the graduate writing programs at Bennington College and the New School for Social Research. He Lives in New York City.