Range of the Possible: Conversations With Contemporary Poets [Paperback]

Tod Marshall (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 2002 | ISBN-10: 0910055785 | ISBN-13: 978-0910055789

These penetrating conversations with poets explore not only the landscape of contemporary poetry but the esthetic, political, and spiritual textures of America and the world as expressed in language.

This varied gathering of poets ranges from a former United States Laureate and winners of many of America's most prestigious literary prizes to lesser known yet equally accomplished writers. Interesting and compelling for both the poetry enthusiast and the general interest reader, this gathering of voices offers a stimulating, informative and profoundly moving poets-eye view of contemporary art and life.

Among the twenty participating poets are Robert Hass, Linda Bierds, Ed Hirsch, Dorianne Laux, Yusef Komunyakaa, Gillian Conoley, Li-Young Lee, Lucia Perillo, Robert Wrigley, Dave Smith, and David St. John.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Starting with the assumption that "the work of the poets born mid-century announce a diasporic rather than lineal legacy," Marshall (Gonzaga Univ.) compiled these interviews with a selection of U.S. poets born between 1941 and 1959. Based in the Northwest, he takes a particular perspective; all but one of the poets in the collection teach, and almost all were born west of the Mississippi. Despite his thoroughly modern premise, Marshall does ask about lineal legacies and American literary history, but most of his questions focus on poetic sensibility and political inclusion. The resulting exchanges are more casually cerebral than personal or profound. The nice thing about the alphabetical arrangement is that it gives the final word to one of Robert Wrigley's observations: "All the stuff about factions, about prizes, about poetry's role in culture seems to me to be distractions from that essential relationship between the poet and the language and the language's ability to plumb the human enterprise." The Range of the Possible is pleasant enough reading; it does have some range, and Wrigley is right. Though the book is in no way couched as a regional survey, it is recommended for libraries where there is interest in contemporary American poets emerging from the West or a need to balance the collection. Scott Hightower, Fordham Univ., New York City
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Marshall perspicaciously identifies a distinct generation of American poets who, born between 1941 and 1959, came of age and came to poetry in a world dramatically transformed by nuclear weapons, the civil rights movement, environmental devastation, technological proliferation, rampant consumerism, Third World warfare, and overpopulation. They also began writing in the blaze of modernity and, for most, within the web of academia. Curious about how this generation views poetry as a craft and a practice, who their influences are, and how they work, Marshall conducted interviews with 20 diverse, immensely talented poets who have powerful feelings about artistic diversity and passion, the unbreakable connection between reading and writing poetry, and devotion to vision and form. Each conversation--from learned discussions with such intense poet-scholars as Robert Hass and Edward Hirsch to the mystical perceptions of Li-Young Lee to Linda Bierds' interest in writing about lives other than her own to Yusef Komunyakaa's connection to place--deepens the reader's appreciation for all the knowledge, emotion, and conviction that make poetry the wonder, pleasure, and solace it is. Donna Seaman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Paperback: 373 pages
• Publisher: Eastern Washington Univ Pr (May 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0910055785
• ISBN-13: 978-0910055789
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,262,859 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Inspirational and Informative, April 19, 2003

By 

J. Nichols - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Range of the Possible: Conversations With Contemporary Poets (Paperback)

"Range of the Possible" is rich with information from and about twenty contemporary American poets from Kim Addonizio to Robert Wrigley. In separate interviews (which must have been wonderful to conduct and which have been very readably transcribed and edited), they discuss the poetry that has informed and influenced them, their views on the relationship between politics and poetry, and the future of poetry in America and in the world. Readers who already love poetry, and readers who want to know more about its role in contemporary America, will be pleased to learn what these poets have to say--that poetry of the highest caliber may console and guide those who will put their minds to it; that it is more variable in subject matter and in form than ever, and more successful; that the forces which work against poetry are not fatal, and can be defended against; and that the heart in, behind and through contemporary poetry (and poetry of all times) is the large heart of all of us. Every literate person should read this book, slowly in small doses at night before going to bed (for encouraging dreams and to motivate one's own poetic sensibility), or in great chunks of study time during the day (for a significant boost away from TV, advertising, and political drivel, and toward the light of literary advocacy). Then you'll want to read the poems of these men and women, and of those whose work they discuss at such length and with such intelligence. Tod Marshall has done a superb job of re-igniting faith in the power of poetry and poets to make us more finely and intelligently human.