Literary figures/poets

Lloyd Schwartz on poet Elizabeth Bishop and how he saved a poem of hers from obscurity. It's called "Breakfast Song." Lloyd is the editor of Elizabeth Bishop and Her Art (University of Michigan Press). The poem will be published in the upcoming issue of The New Yorker.

Classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz is also a poet. He reviews “The Voice of the Poet” (Random House) a collection of poets reading their own work on audio tape.

Book Critic Maureen Corrigan reviews "Birthday Letters" by English poet Ted Hughes. (Farrar, Straus & Giroux) This is the much anticipated collection by Hughes who was once married to American poet Sylvia Plath. Many blame Hughes for Plath's suicide in 1963 after he left her for another woman.

Commentator Maureen Corrigan reviews "The Silent Woman: Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes" by Janet Malcolm (Knopf). The book is a reflection on the various attempts by biographers to chronicle the life of the late poet Sylvia Plath.

Jazz critic Ken Tucker reviews the Jack Kerouac Collection, a box set featuring Kerouac's poetry readings set to musical accompaniment is by Steve Allen, Al Cohn, and Zoot Sims. Fans will appreciate the included booklet, which features photographs and essays about the poet's life and career.

Book critic John Leonard reviews a new biography of Allan Ginsberg.