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Area of FocusAbout Douglas' Work
Douglas Crase, a poet, writes of urban life and the American landscape, culture, and heritage.
Crase is in the Emersonian tradition of deeply philosophical thinkers, reconstructing an America from the artifacts that surround us. His book of poems, The Revisionist (1981), reconsiders Walt Whitman’s vision of America and takes the form of an imaginative restoration of America’s native beauty. In AMERFIL.TXT: A Commonplace Book (1996), Crase probes the American memory with artfully arranged passages of twenty-three writers organized under his own headings. Both: A Portrait in Two Parts (2004) chronicles the 48-year relationship of botanist Rupert Barneby and aesthete Dwight Ripley, illuminating their remarkable lives, pursuits, and 1950s’ social circle.
Biography
Crase has also written numerous critical essays and contributed to the volume Beyond Amazement: New Essays on John Ashbery (1980), edited by David Lehman. A former speechwriter, he brings a background of political science and law to his work. He also served as a visiting professor in English at the University of Rochester (1976-77).
Crase received an A.B. (1966) from Princeton University and did graduate work at the University of Michigan (1966-69).
Last updated January 1, 2005.
Published on July 1, 1987
