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Real Sofistikashun: Essays on Poetry and Craft

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Tony Hoagland's poetry already hint subtly at his attention to detail and craft, so the depth to which he can explore the creation of poetry in these essays comes as no surprise. But while Hoagland can write with precision about the marriage of rhetoric, diction and image in poetry and analyze the minutiae of tone and its complexities, he still preserves a delight for the spontaneity of writing and promotes a certain kind of un-knowingness in the process of creation.

This last point is very refreshing to see, for the trap of the basic contradictory action of writing exposition about creative writing is often to dictate or at least suggest conscious focus on the complexities of writing poetry, and all too often essays about poetry writing become flat shells about a very multi-dimensional process. Hoagland resists the impulse to prescribe, if it ever comes to him at all, and instead celebrates the end effects of wonderful poetry. When he does discuss the creation of poetry, he is an advocate of student-mind and fresh outlooks and the ability to change and adapt, as he does in his essays about particular poets like Pinsky and Gluck. Hoagland also defines well the pleasures of schools like language poetry and its energetic playfulness, but identifies fairly where they fall short of being thoroughly satisfying.

But don't take all of this as an impression that the book is stuffy and overly academic. Hoagland maintains a sense of humor through this book, keeping his language accessible and familiar.

Though I sometimes quibbled with Hoagland's choices of poets worthy of very particular attention in their own essays, and in the end I was no more of a fan of the work of these poets than before his praise of them, this sequence of essays will be enlightening to those familiar with the art of poetry. Though this book may prove a little more difficult for those without as much experience already in the craft of poetry, it is worth a slow, deliberate read.

"Real Sofistikashun: Essays On Poetry And Craft" by Tony Hogland (who is the author of three published poetry collections and is the recipient of the Folger Shakespeare Library's O. B. Hardison, Jr. Poetry Prize) is a compilation of essays in which he deftly explores the craft of writing poetry in a more conversational style than that commonly employed in traditional verse. Hogland addresses the use of metaphor, tone, rhetorical and compositional strategies in a thoroughly `reader friendly' manner that is as inherently fascinating as it is informed and informative. "Real Sofistikashun" is an impressive and invaluable contribution to personal, academic, and community library Literary Studies reference collections and the `Art of Poetry' supplemental reading lists.