SOURCE: Southworth, James G. “The Poetry of Richard Wilbur.” College English 22, no. 1 (October 1960): 24-9.

In the following essay, the writer argues that Wilbur's poetry, with its emphasis on craftsmanship, represents a “new conservatism” in American poetry.

Richard Wilbur, born in 1921, is one of the youngest American poets whose work challenges attention and whose accomplishment merits careful appraisal. He is now at a critical point in his career. An able craftsman, working in the great tradition of English poetry, he has utilized the results of the older modern poets who were consciously experimental in their techniques. He represents, one might say, a new conservatism. He is not a prolific poet, nor is he ever a careless, slipshod versifier, although some poems may be said to lack any genuine significance beyond that of technical competence. Although his subject-matter is in the humanistic tradition, his contribution to date lies essentially in...