Pulitzer Prize Poetry Winner
Selected Poems
by Donald Justice
Summary
Drawing on a career of patient craftsmanship, these poems return to childhood Florida, vanished friends, and the small consolations of music and form. Justice writes in restrained, classically balanced lines that turn nostalgia into something closer to clear-eyed mourning. His work demonstrates how formal precision can sharpen, rather than soften, emotional truth.
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Historical Context & Significance
Justice was known as a "poet's poet" and a legendary teacher at the Iowa Writers' Workshop.