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Gerard C. Wertkin; Stacy C. Hollander; Brooke Davis Anderson; Lee Kogan; Cheryl Rivers; Elizabeth V. Warren; Foreword-Gerard C. Wertkin; Illustrator-John Parnell; Photographer-John Parnell ListingsIf you cannot find what you want on this page, then please use our search feature to search all our listings. Click on Title to view full description
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Hollander, John The Work of Poetry
Columbia University Press 2001 0231108966 / 9780231108966 Hardcover Near fine Near fine Hardcover
New. Near fine in publisher's slightly rubbed quarter-bound boards in like dust jacket. Available in our UK premises for prompt dispatch worldwide.Hollander (English, Yale), a recipient of the Bollingen Prize in 1983 and a five-year MacArthur Fellowship, has written a treatise on poetry that would never be considered easy reading. Of course, that was hardly his intent. Hollander instead aims at the understanding and appreciation of poetry, a goal he achieves by looking at, studying, and ultimately dissecting all that is poetry?and what pretends to be. The pretenders?work from certain literature programs and writing workshops and trendy writing from would-be poets lacking original thought, insight, and technical skill?do not fare well. Neither do some writers of free verse. As Hollander observes, free verse is very easy to write if one does not know how; good poets know how. Hollander's discussion of good poets is not only enlightening, compelling, and demanding but also spiritual and caring. His views on Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Lewis Carroll, Marianne Moore, May Swenson, and particularly Walt Whitman certainly will move readers to a new level of comprehension, not only of the specific works but also of poetry itself. His book is, among other things, a critical response to poetry and, therefore, an exacting reading experience, but the rewards are diverse, as is the bounty. Highly recommended for serious literary collections.?Robert Kelly, Fort Wayne Community Schs., Ind. Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. ... From Kirkus Reviews Cautionary words about poetry from an idiosyncratic and surprising critic and poet. Hollander, usually regarded as a conservative observer of things poetic, both lives up to his reputation and defies it willingly in this essay collection. The Yale professor (and Bollingen Prize and MacArthur fellowship winner) predictably decries, for example, the dominance of creative-writing programs in contemporary America, blaming them in part for the rise of underachieving free verse and for an oversupply of poets who may not deserve the name. ``Free verse . . . is very easy to write if you don't know how,'' he comments, convinced that many self-styled poets don't. ``Good poets know how,'' he notes--as if we couldn't figure that out for ourselves. At his best, Hollander abandons contempt and complaint in favor of real eloquence and mindfulness. For instance, his essays about poets May Swenson and Elizabeth Bishop are models of insight and stylistic clarity and tact. Anyone interested in poetry or criticism must read them. Hollander on Swenson: ``Let words play with each other and they will do the imagination's work. As she herself observed in the preface to a selection of her poems that she'd made for children and that highlights the matter of puzzle and riddle in all poetry: `Notice how a poet's games are called his ``works''--and how the ``work'' you do to solve a poem is really play. . . .' Very, very good poetry does indeed make temporary poets of its readers, just as the inventiveness of poetry is itself so often a kind of interpretation.'' Hollander's comparisons and contrasts among poets are often beguiling, as in his consideration of Edgar Lee Masters, Robert Louis Stevenson, and the relationship between poetry and dreaming. His imagination is unpredictable and stimulating, especially when he does not assume too much about his audience's familiarity with, or views on, poetry. He smites, he laments, but he also enlightens. -- Copyright ®1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
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20.98 GBP
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Hollander, John The Work of Poetry
Columbia University Press 1997 0231108966 / 9780231108966 Hardcover Near fine Near fine Hardcover
New. Remainder mark; dusty with slight rubbing. Near fine in publisher's quarter bound boards in like dust jacket. Available in our UK premises for prompt dispatch worldwide.Hollander (English, Yale), a recipient of the Bollingen Prize in 1983 and a five-year MacArthur Fellowship, has written a treatise on poetry that would never be considered easy reading. Of course, that was hardly his intent. Hollander instead aims at the understanding and appreciation of poetry, a goal he achieves by looking at, studying, and ultimately dissecting all that is poetry?and what pretends to be. The pretenders?work from certain literature programs and writing workshops and trendy writing from would-be poets lacking original thought, insight, and technical skill?do not fare well. Neither do some writers of free verse. As Hollander observes, free verse is very easy to write if one does not know how; good poets know how. Hollander's discussion of good poets is not only enlightening, compelling, and demanding but also spiritual and caring. His views on Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Lewis Carroll, Marianne Moore, May Swenson, and particularly Walt Whitman certainly will move readers to a new level of comprehension, not only of the specific works but also of poetry itself. His book is, among other things, a critical response to poetry and, therefore, an exacting reading experience, but the rewards are diverse, as is the bounty. Highly recommended for serious literary collections.?Robert Kelly, Fort Wayne Community Schs., Ind. Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. ... From Kirkus Reviews Cautionary words about poetry from an idiosyncratic and surprising critic and poet. Hollander, usually regarded as a conservative observer of things poetic, both lives up to his reputation and defies it willingly in this essay collection. The Yale professor (and Bollingen Prize and MacArthur fellowship winner) predictably decries, for example, the dominance of creative-writing programs in contemporary America, blaming them in part for the rise of underachieving free verse and for an oversupply of poets who may not deserve the name. ``Free verse . . . is very easy to write if you don't know how,'' he comments, convinced that many self-styled poets don't. ``Good poets know how,'' he notes--as if we couldn't figure that out for ourselves. At his best, Hollander abandons contempt and complaint in favor of real eloquence and mindfulness. For instance, his essays about poets May Swenson and Elizabeth Bishop are models of insight and stylistic clarity and tact. Anyone interested in poetry or criticism must read them. Hollander on Swenson: ``Let words play with each other and they will do the imagination's work. As she herself observed in the preface to a selection of her poems that she'd made for children and that highlights the matter of puzzle and riddle in all poetry: `Notice how a poet's games are called his ``works''--and how the ``work'' you do to solve a poem is really play. . . .' Very, very good poetry does indeed make temporary poets of its readers, just as the inventiveness of poetry is itself so often a kind of interpretation.'' Hollander's comparisons and contrasts among poets are often beguiling, as in his consideration of Edgar Lee Masters, Robert Louis Stevenson, and the relationship between poetry and dreaming. His imagination is unpredictable and stimulating, especially when he does not assume too much about his audience's familiarity with, or views on, poetry. He smites, he laments, but he also enlightens. -- Copyright ®1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
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16.90 GBP
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