"Robert Pinsky belongs to that rarest category of talents, a poet-critic."--Robert Lowell

Two important books of criticism by the Pulitzer Prize finalist and former U.S. poet laureate--now combined in a single volume with a new preface by the author

For Robert Pinsky, poetry's individual, human scale as a fundamentally vocal medium--with poems brought to life by one person at a time--gives poetry a unique importance in American and democratic culture and society. This book brings together two compelling works of criticism by the former poet laureate--The Situation of Poetry and Democracy, Culture and the Voice of Poetry, in which he makes a passionate and eloquent case for the vital role of poetry in a democracy.