''Parnassus: Poetry in Review'' was an American literary magazine founded in 1973. It ceased publication in 2019.

History and profile

''Parnassus'' was founded by Herbert Leibowitz as editor and Stanley Lewis, the original publisher, in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

. In 1976, Leibowitz set up the nonprofit Poetry in Review Foundation to sustain publication of the magazine, and he became publisher as well as editor. The magazine stated on its website that its aim has been "to provide a forum where poets, novelists, and critics of all persuasions could gather to review new books of poetry, including translations ... with an amplitude and reflectiveness that Sunday book supplements and even the literary quarterlies could not afford. Reviews and essays, to be effective, would have to shun academic thinking and prose, and above all, embrace the diverse voices of democratic pluralism. Our literary profile has been defined by a passion for disinterested, wide-ranging, incisive commentary—and lilting prose; a poet's reputation has never guaranteed a favorable or negative review. We never impose a point of view on any of our writers."
Web page titled "About Parnassus" at the ''Parnassus'' website, Retrieved February 1, 2007 Contributors of essays to the magazine included David Barber (writer), David Barber,

Sven Birkerts Sven Birkerts (born 21 September 1951) is an American essayist and literary critic. He is best known for his book ''The Gutenberg Elegies'' (1994), which posits a decline in reading due to the overwhelming advances of the Internet and other te ...

Hayden Carruth Hayden Carruth (August 3, 1921 – September 29, 2008) was an American poet, literary critic and anthologist. He taught at Syracuse University. Life Hayden Carruth was born in Waterbury, Connecticut and grew up in Woodbury, Connecticut. He gra ...

Guy Davenport Guy Mattison Davenport (November 23, 1927 – January 4, 2005) was an American writer, translator, illustrator, painter, intellectual, and teacher. Life Guy Davenport was born in Anderson, South Carolina, in the foothills of Appalachia on Novem ...

Mary Karr Mary Karr (born January 16, 1955) is an American poet, essayist and memoirist from East Texas. She is widely noted for her 1995 bestselling memoir ''The Liars' Club''. Karr is the Jesse Truesdell Peck Professor of English Literature at Syracus ...

Wayne Koestenbaum Wayne Koestenbaum (born 1958) is an American artist, poet, and cultural critic. He received a B.A. from Harvard University, an M.A. from the Johns Hopkins Writing Seminars, and a Ph.D. from Princeton University and is a 1994 Whiting Award recipie ...

Seamus Heaney Seamus Justin Heaney (; 13 April 1939 – 30 August 2013) was an Irish poet, playwright and translator. He received the 1995 Nobel Prize in Literature.

Adrienne Rich Adrienne Cecile Rich ( ; May 16, 1929 – March 27, 2012) was an American poet, essayist and feminist. She was called "one of the most widely read and influential poets of the second half of the 20th century", and was credited with bringing "the ...

, Helen Vendler,

Eric Ormsby Eric Linn Ormsby (born 1941 in Atlanta, Georgia) is deputy head of academic research and publications at the Institute of Ismaili Studies in London. He was formerly a professor at McGill University Institute of Islamic Studies, where he also s ...

, and

Marjorie Perloff Marjorie Perloff (born September 28, 1931) is an Austrian-born poetry scholar and critic in the United States. Early life Perloff was born Gabriele Mintz into a secularized Jewish family in Vienna. The annexation of Austria by Nazi Germany exa ...

. The magazine published special theme issues on subjects including women and poetry, the long poem, words and music, autobiography, multiculturalism, and poetry and movies. In 2001 the journal's 624-page 25th anniversary issue contained a survey of international poetries. ''Parnassus'' printed original art in every issue and commissioned portraits of poets from well-known artists such as

Philip Pearlstein Philip Martin Pearlstein (May 24, 1924 – December 17, 2022) was an American painter best known for Modernist Realist nudes. Cited by critics as the preeminent figure painter of the 1960s to 2000s, he led a revival in realist art. Biography ...

, Alice Neel,

Red Grooms Red Grooms (born Charles Rogers Grooms on June 7, 1937) is an American multimedia artist best known for his colorful pop art, pop-art constructions depicting frenetic scenes of modern urban life. Grooms was given the nickname "Red" by Dominic ...

Romare Bearden Romare Bearden (September 2, 1911 – March 12, 1988) was an American artist, author, and songwriter. He worked with many types of media including cartoons, oils, and collages. Born in Charlotte, North Carolina, Bearden grew up in New York City a ...

, as well as from young artists. In 2007 the journal announced that it had lost its private funding, and that Volume 30 would be its last. In a piece in the ''Wall Street Journal'' (July 2007), Willard Spiegelman compared the fates of ''Parnassus'' and ''

Poetry Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings i ...

'' magazine, which had been heavily endowed by a bequest from

Ruth Lilly Ruth (or its variants) may refer to: Places France * Château de Ruthie, castle in the commune of Aussurucq in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques département of France Switzerland * Ruth, a hamlet in Cologny United States * Ruth, Alabama * Ruth, Ar ...

. Because of this essay, another donor came to the rescue, anonymously, and gave Leibowitz enough money to keep the journal afloat for two more big issues, through Volume 32 (2010). ''Parnassus'' published one final issue, Volume 35 nos. 1 & 2, in 2019.''Parnassus''. Vol. 35, no. 1/2 (2019). New York, NY: Poetry in Review Foundation.

Notes

External links

*{{official website, http://www.parnassusreview.com Annual magazines published in the United States Defunct literary magazines published in the United States Magazines established in 1973 Magazines disestablished in 2019 Magazines published in New York City Poetry magazines published in the United Statesbr>Parnassus: Poetry in Review records
Manuscripts and Archives Division, The New York Public Library