"In the Western Night" establishes Frank Bidart's place among this century's most emotionally articular poets. His fine earlier books, published between 1973 and 1983, are here, surroudned by a selection of equally impressive newer pieces. Taken together, they constitute a hauntingly raw voice that finds itself through an exhilarating array of prosodic techniques. More than most of his post-confessional contemporaries, Bidart is unafraid of passion, and willing to harness his passion to words and structures...His voice, and the voices in his dramatic monologues, are unrelentingly curious and honest; and yet they inevitably back up against the greatest of mysteries." --Matthew Gilbert, The Boston Globe

"In the supreme poems, Bidart's spiritual force makes me...yield to the authority of the voice. "Ellen West" is a heartbreaking act of sympathy." --Denis Donoghue, The New Republic

"Achieves a grandeur of vision few poets nowadays can match." --Alan Shapiro, Chicago Tribune