Brad Leithauser has been one of the most fortunate of the younger poets grouped under the general title of New Formalists. Even preceding the publication of his first book, Hundreds of Fireflies (1982), he had been published in several of the leading journals that print poetry and had been the recipient of numerous awards. However, he has also paid the price of early acclaim, as even critics friendly to his poetics have grown impatient to see him fulfill his full potential.

Leithauser was born on 27 February 1953 in Detroit and is the son of Harold Edward Leithauser (a lawyer) and Gladys Garner Leithauser (a children's writer and college professor). After secondary school in the Detroit area, Leithauser graduated from Harvard University with a B.A. in English in 1975 and a J.D. in 1980. While an undergraduate, he was awarded the Academy of American Poets Prize at Harvard in 1973 and 1975, and...