“There have always been great defenses of poetry, and I've tried to write mine, and I think all of my work and criticism is a defense of poetry to try and keep something alive in poetry.”

American poet and critic

Edward Hirsch is an American poet and critic. He is president of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation in New York City, and he is known for his books on poetry as well as his work as a poet. He has published nine books of poems, including The Living Fire: New and Selected Poems, which gathers thirty-five years of work, and Gabriel: A Poem, a book-length elegy for his son. He has also written five prose books about poetry, among them a national bestseller on reading poetry.