Morris Gelfand, who operates the Stone House Press out of the basement of a
house Bryant had built in Roslyn, and who had published my Heartwood collec-
tion of poems about trees, offered to publish a letterpress limited edition of the
Bryant book. For technical reasons, I was to be limited to no more than 150 pages
and 20 poets. Of the writings collected here, only the John Hollander essay, the
Jared Carter, William Heyen, and William Jay Smith poems, and my prose
fantasy and critical essay have been previously published. Aaron Kramer's essay
is a transcript, with minor revisions, of a radio broadcast he gave in 1978.

In inviting poets to contribute, I followed my instincts about which contempo-
rary poets, as revealed by their poems and comments about poetry, might be
receptive to, though not necessarily uncritical of, Bryant's poetry. Stressing space
limitations and the need for brevity, I explained that I would be open to poems
and short prose pieces, in any form and with any approach, in response to
Bryant's poetry and/or any other aspect of his multifaceted life and career. I
indicated that I would be receptive to negative criticism, if it seemed just; Bryant
was too dedicated a poet and too principled a man to be patronized. If we
ultimately find him to be a "minor" poet, we must realize that it is indeed no
mean accomplishment to be a minor poet. Unfortunately, we live in a world in
which the poems of even "major" poets go largely unread.

I have arranged the poems and prose pieces by twenty contemporary American
poets into two sections titled by phrases from a Robert Morgan essay and a
William Stafford poem. The poets are of several generations and at different
stages of their careers as poets, ranging from those who appear in little magazines
and journals but are awaiting the publication of their first volumes, to those whose
distinguished lists of collections have earned them prestigious awards and inter-
national recognition. In this book and elsewhere, they write in a typically
American diversity of styles, forms, and traditions. What has brought them
together, above and beyond my Persistence, is an eagerness to respond to the
voice, vision, and legacy of a literary ancestor who, though once nationally and
internationally acclaimed, is now remarkably out of fashion. If I had been given
more space, I am sure other poets would have wanted to join in the dialogue.

As John Hollander observes, today we do not consider Bryant the equal of
Emerson, Whitman, and Dickinson. In his day, however, he was thought pre-
eminent. On his 70th birthday in 1864, the Century Club honored him with a
gala celebration, a portfolio of paintings by distinguished artists, and tributes by
Emerson, Dana, Lowell, Whittier, Holmes, Longfellow and Tuckerman. A little
over 120 years later, the time is right for a reconsideration of Bryant's merits as a

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