On Frost and Eliot

246-page paperback / 6" x 9" / ISBN 9781589882027
Publication Date 5/13/25 (available for preorder)

Robert Frost and T.S. Eliot have received ample attention as major American poets of the last century. But they have usually been considered apart from one another, the homely all-American Frost assumed to have little in common with the sophisticated made-over English Eliot.

William Pritchard's interest is to see what emerges if we juxtapose the two poets and consider their respective poetic careers as quasi-friendly rivals, in technique, in historical weight, and in relation to other twentieth century poets, predominantly English and American ones. They took the occasion more than once to poke fun at the odd poems the other had produced, although they were mutually admiring as they aged. Pritchard's treatment of the pair takes its cue from Frost's distinction between them: "I play Euchre; he plays Eucharist." On Frost and Eliot explores the appropriateness of such a distinction.

PRAISE FOR WILLIAM H. PRITCHARD AND HIS EARLIER BOOKS:

"These pieces reflect Pritchard’s abiding joy in literature, especially poetry . . . Pritchard is demanding, fastidious, and occasionally cantankerous, yet in a refreshing way that reminds readers what it means to care deeply about literature."
—Booklist on Ear Training

"What shines through here is Pritchard's passionate commitment to literature and writing in an impoverished academic world. This is a clear-minded and judicious tale of one critic's quest to situate his critical identity in a world that has largely left his kind behind."
—Library Journal on English Papers: A Teaching Life

"A savvy literary critic . . . Pritchard writes with both uncommon clarity and easygoing erudition."
—Publishers Weekly on Updike: America's Man of Letters

"Pritchard's sympathetic, kinetic engagement with the canon has always distinguished him from other voices of the academy. Maybe that's because Pritchard believes less in great books than in great writing. His immersion in literature is emotional and philosophical, as well as technical and professional."
—Kirkus Reviews on Talking Back to Emily Dickinson, and Other Essays

William H. Pritchard is the author of several essay collections and literary biographies including Randall Jarrell: A Literary Life, Updike: America’s Man of Letters, and Ear Training (Paul Dry Books, 2023). He is professor of English emeritus at Amherst College where he taught for sixty years. He lives in western Massachusetts.