In this thoughtful and provocative collection of essays, Suzanne Gardinier painstakingly and passionately examines the intersection of poetry and politics. Not a miscellany but a cohesive and beautifully crafted book, the six essays (on Pablo Neruda, Muriel Rukeyser, Rainer Maria Rilke, Adrienne Rich, the Iliad, "Poetry and the New Commonwealth," and "In Search of Democracy") are united in their love of language, their unsparing but hopeful...