Dana Gioia’s new book of essays about poetry covers much interesting ground, from his Longinian essay about poetry as enchantment to his lively biographical pen-portrait of Donald Davie to several shorter pieces about particular poets, including Philip Larkin. Nominally, Gioia’s essay is a review of James Booth’s (splendid) biography of Larkin (which aimed to save Larkin from the degraded position his literary executors had condemned him to by presenting him, in a selection of letters and a biography, as little more than a miserable, racist, hateful man), but it becomes a full blooded essay in its own right, which aims to restore some balance to Larkin’s reputation, just as Booth’s biography had done.
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