Strict Wildness: Discoveries in Poetry and History »

The main theme of this volume of selected essays on poetry and on history, written between 1938 through 2004, is suggested in Viereck's coined phrase 'strict wildness,' which suggests a balance between restraint (which by itself is staid and rigid) and passion (which by itself is incoherent). The book explores questions of modernism and poetic craft with respect to American poetry. It discusses the controversy over Ezra Pound's politics and its relation to his poetics, and the nearly forgotten poet Vachel Lindsay. Viereck offers more general views on poetics, including the fruitful tensions between form and content, and the impact of modern technology on poetic expression. This book also discusses history and politics, and contains essays on McCarthyism, the Cold War, political conformity of the Left and Right, and issues of historiography and culture that define Viereck's individual, often critical brand of conservatism.