Richard Palmer Blackmur

Richard Palmer Blackmur 1904-65, American critic and poet, b. Springfield, Mass. Although he had no formal education after high school, he was a resident fellow (1940-48) and professor (1948-65) at Princeton. His volumes of alert, precise, yet provisional appraisals of literature include The Art of the Novel (1934), The Double Agent (1935), The Expense of Greatness (1940), Language as Gesture (1952), Lion and the Honeycomb (1955), and Primer of Ignorance (1967). He also wrote such volumes of poetry as From Jordan's Delight (1937) and Second World (1942).

Blackmur, R[ichard] P[almer] (1904–65), poet and critic, although without formal education after high school, was not only a learned critic but served as a resident fellow (1940–48) and professor (1948–65) at Princeton. His books include From Jordan's Delight (1937) and Second World (1942), poems; The Double Agent (1935), The Expense of Greatness (1940), Language as Gesture (1952), The Lion and the Honeycomb (1955), essays on literature; Form and Value in Modern Poetry (1957); and Eleven Essays in the European Novel (1964). Henry Adams (1980) is a posthumous gathering of studies of the historian.

Blackmur, R. P. ( Richard Palmer Blackmur) (1904–65), American poet and critic, associated for many years with Princeton, where he was professor from 1948 to 1965. His critical works, which include The Expense of Greatness (1940), Language as Gesture (1952), and The Lion and the Honeycomb (1955), link him with the New Criticism; he was one of the early champions of the art of W. Stevens.