“Lucidity, precision, rhythmical poise, sentiment, intelligence, and the rigors of a conscious craft that liberated the imagination--these were the poetic values James Wright cherished, and they remain the keynotes of Above the River, a splendid new edition of his work. . . . His best poems, with their grace and intelligence, not only stand as a rebuke to most of the glib work of his time, but remain among the finest examples of the midcentury American lyric. His poems continue, as a phrase from one of them puts it, to break into blossom.” —J.D. McClatchy, The New York Times Book Review

“What makes him great is his constant openheartedness: he is not self-absorbed. His work explores a full range of feeling; he found much to celebrate and praise as well as to lament; he affirmed the good in life however limited.” —Karen Whitehall, The Virginia Quarterly Review

“A tough and touching poet who, while never relinquishing his Midwestern roots, found ways to grow as a poet, with a deepening sense of tradition and of the nature of the factory he labored in.” —Christopher Benfey, The New Republic