In an era dominated by poststructuralist and politically influenced literary criticism, Ms. Vendler, who taught at Harvard for more than 30 years, adhered to the old-fashioned method of close reading, going methodically line by line, word by word, to expose a poem's inner workings and emotional roots.
Vendler has done perhaps more than any other living critic to shape 'I might almost say create' our understanding of poetry in English, according to poet and critic Joel Brouwer.
She is a remarkably agile and gifted close reader, according to literary scholar Harold Bloom.
In important scholarly studies, Ms. Vendler offered fresh interpretations of classic authors like George Herbert, Wallace Stevens, Seamus Heaney, Keats, and a thorough analysis of all 154 of Shakespeare's sonnets in 'The Art of Shakespeare's Sonnets'.
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