Eighteen papers from an April 2000 conference sharing the title of the text were selected by Ferguson (emerita, humanities, Case Western Reserve U.). The essays explore the works and friendship of the poets Randall Jarrell, Elizabeth Bishop, and Robert Lowell, considered by some to be the "core" group involved in revising the "poetic landscape" of the mid-20th-century United States. Ferguson argues that a not always explicit consensus emerges from the contributions that the three poets were part of a "generation" or "movement" of poetry. Early essays consist of comparative studies, while later contributions look at the three poets separately. Annotation ©2003 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR