>I've sort of wondered over the years at the thinness of the
>contributions from Harvard professors of english. I understand that
>Helen Vendler is quite respected as a critic of 20th century poetry
Her stuff on Stevens, as I remember it, was good, but not inspired, and next to all the interesting stuff that was happening in criticism in the early 1970s, seemed pretty dusty. I was at dinner with a bunch of folks in Munich who were pointing out that Harvard collects distinguished names who mainly rest on their laurels. Summers' singling out West is pretty unfair - there are scores of seatwarmers on the faculty.
Doug