The Soul Is a Stranger in This World

“Micah Mattix is one of a handful of contemporary writers who have restored the art of literary criticism to its proper scope and style so that once again it serves to illuminate the meaning of works of art, to suggest their connection to the full breadth of knowledge and human experience, and to keep in mind—always—the one question every reader wants to know: is this poem any good? Bringing together essays on myriad subjects, Mattix's new book is a reliable guide to both the great poets now among us and to those eccentric figures who may be less appealing to the lay reader but whose work nonetheless has something substantial to teach us. . . . The result is a critic of foremost authority who is helping to reclaim for poetry that public, intellectual, and spiritual role it ought always to play in a decent civilization.”


—James Matthew Wilson, Poetry Editor, Modern Age, Associate Professor of Religion and Literature, Villanova University





“Sharp-eyed, allergic to cant, catholic in his tastes, occasionally sardonic, blessedly sane, Micah Mattix is one of the best critics of poetry now at work.”


—John Wilson, Contributing Editor, Englewood Review of Books