The Beautiful Lesson of the I (Swenson Poetry Award) [Hardcover]

Frances Brent (Author), Rachel Hadas (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 31, 2005 | Series: Swenson Poetry Award

The Beautiful Lesson of the I is a collection of finely made poems by an accomplished poet. It will reward the scholar and the student of poetry, as well as the reader looking for the simple pleasures of poetic insight authentically felt. Frances Brent’s poems have appeared in The New Yorker, Notre Dame Review, Yale Review, and in many other journals. Her work is known for its delicacy and detail, evoking both the Symbolists and some of the Asian poets who inspired them. She includes May Swenson among her influences, too; like Swenson, Brent often steadies her gaze on the material world, delighting in its humor as well as its occasional horror.

Editorial Reviews

Review

May Swenson would have admired and enjoyed this collection—as I do. -- Rachel Hadas, Judge of the 2005 Swenson Award

About the Author

Frances Brent was born in Chicago and was educated at Barnard College. She studied poetry at Columbia University and the University of Illinois, Chicago. From 1984–1991 she co-edited the literary journal, Formations. In 1987 she co-translated Beyond the Limit: poems by Irina Ratushinskaya. She has taught at Yale, Northwestern, Loyola University, and Barat College. She lives with her family in New Haven.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 80 pages
• Publisher: Utah State University Press (July 31, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0874216168
• ISBN-13: 978-0874216165
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,668,274 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The most beautiful poetry of 2005, August 26, 2005

By 

Vlad (New Haven, CT) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Beautiful Lesson of the I (Swenson Poetry Award) (Hardcover)

Frances Brent is a worthy recipient of the 2005 May Swenson Award. Her poems, small, craftful, and beautiful, like a delicate piece of origami, make it a pleasure to read and take in her poems. My favorite is The Melon: "There once was a man who had to see everything to remember: The melon grained and dented moon covered in netting..." It reminds of a beautiful, dreamy, mysterious scene of a movie. The poems are of small scenes like a beautiful pictaresque still life- Plate and Insect, Apple, Bottles, Butterfly, but when you look deep enough you see these poems are about something more than what meets the eye. Plate and Insect starts: "Hunger, a fume in the rice-colored nothingness surrounds the empty dish and an insect, the size of a watermelon seed, and then evaporates." Each poem is up to the reader to interpret, but one thing is sure, there is much more there than an insect and a plate. The best poetry book of 2005!

5.0 out of 5 stars An intriguing collection of her greatest poems, March 3, 2006

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Beautiful Lesson of the I (Swenson Poetry Award) (Hardcover)

A highly recommend read, Frances Brent presents an intriguing collection of her greatest poems in The Beautiful Lesson Of The I. In this deftly written body of verse, the reader will find words of compelling guidance, thought evoking wisdom, and an intricate map of Frances Brets' encouraging mind. Undo: I drew a finger through the air with its memory objects--/there's nothing/but there is. I lean-ed the gray word/against the wall with the clock//and the dark compositions of Prohibition and Desire,/space between thought going off/and coming back--//Undo--/choppy feelings of the heart--/so much hope/as the bubble floats.