The Owner of the House: New Collected Poems 1940-2001

The struggle with day-to-day American life, set against the backdrop of larger and weightier social issues, takes center-stage in this collection. The earlier poems, which concern themselves primarily with the experience of the World War II soldier, balance morbid subject matter with rhyme and sing-song rhythm, while the later work is characterized by even-lined, unrhymed verse. Read chronologically, the collection is a tale of increasing self-knowledge and personal discovery. (BOA Editions, Ltd.)

 

Author Biography

The son of a Scottish lawyer and Russian mother, Louis Simpson was born in Jamaica, West Indies in 1923. After immigrating to the United States at 17, Mr. Simpson studied at Columbia University and served active duty in the 101st Airborne Division. Returning from the war, he completed his studies at Columbia and then moved to France, where he published his first book of poems, The Arrivistes (1949). Mr. Simpson went on to write a novel, an autobiography, memoirs, literary criticism, and 18 volumes of poetry. Mr. Simpson was a National Book Award Finalist in 1964 for At The End of the Open Road, in 1966 for Selected Poems, and in 1973 for Adventures of the Letter I. He lives in Stony Brook, New York.

 

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