Pulitzer Prize Biography Winner

Louise Bogan: A Portrait

by Elizabeth Frank

Summary

Elizabeth Frank recounts the life of poet and critic Louise Bogan, long the poetry reviewer for The New Yorker. The book follows Bogan's difficult childhood, her bouts of depression and hospitalization, and her exacting devotion to lyric craft. Frank illuminates a writer who guarded her privacy while shaping American poetic taste for decades.

Historical Context & Significance

Bogan served as the Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress, the post now known as Poet Laureate of the United States.