Randall Jarrell and the lost world of childhood

The roots of Jarrell's concerns with childhood are in his own youth, says Flynn. Including new information gathered in interviews with Jarrell's wife and others close to him, Flynn begins his study by examining Jarrell's unhappy upbringing. After discussing the poet's precocity, his parents' divorce, and other aspects of his boyhood, Flynn relates them to Jarrell's writings. The first full-length study of childhood as a vital key to understanding Jarrell's life and work, this book is an engaging portrayal of the artist who devoted himself to preserving what he felt was not our most innocent but rather our truest age. --Book jacket.