"The first biography of an American master. The Songs We Know Best, the first comprehensive biography of the early life of John Ashbery--the winner of nearly every major American literary award--reveals the unusual ways he drew on the details of his youth to populate the poems that made him one of the most original and unpredictable forces of the last century in arts and letters. Drawing on unpublished correspondence, juvenilia, and childhood diaries...

"Ben Hickman argues that we must attend to Ashbery's radical conception of reading if we are to understand the originality of his writing. His study focuses on Ashbery's reading of English poets, including Andrew Marvell, John Donne, William Wordsworth, John Clare, T.S. Eliot and W.H. Auden, and examines Ashbery's writing in terms of an 'aesthetic of inattention'. Hickman critiques the Americanisation of Ashbery's work as well as common assumptions...

Intimate portraits of five influential contemporary poets, interviewed in their homes and filmed at public readings. Through these poets' own words the audience is given a glimpse into the creative process and a fascinating look at how acclaimed poets practice their art.

A selection of critical essays presented in chronological sequence on the poetry of John Ashbery.