The Strength of Poetry (Oxford Lectures) [Hardcover]

James Fenton (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 2001

Sharp-eyed critiques and appreciations of the essential poets of our time.

James Fenton is unique among contemporary writers in having achieved equal distinction as a poet and -- in his reportage and criticism -- as a master of trenchant prose. What is more, he has shown himself a devoted critic of both American and British modern poetry, an explainer of each tradition to the other and to itself. In these lectures, delivered at Oxford (where he succeeded Seamus Heaney as Professor of Poetry from 1994 to 1999), Fenton moves easily from Philip Larkin's laments for the British Empire, to Heaney's uneasy rebellion against it, to Robert Frost's celebrations of American conquest; from W. H. Auden on Shakespeare's homoeroticism to the vexed "feminism" of Elizabeth Bishop; from Wilfred Owen's juvenilia to Marianne Moore's youthful agitation for women's suffrage.

In these lectures -- many of which appeared in The New York Review of Books -- Fenton makes sense of the last century in poetry, and explores its antecedents and its legacies, with the lucidity, wit, and gusto that have made his criticism famous.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The English poet and frequent New York Review of Books contributor Fenton (Out of Danger) succeeded Seamus Heaney in 1994 as Oxford University's Professor of Poetry. Like past holders of the prestigious post, Fenton gave a series of public lectures on topics in poetry and the other arts from artistic rivalry in the Renaissance, to Heaney's ambiguities and D.H. Lawrence's animals, to W.H. Auden's readings of Shakespeare and James. This volume collects 12 of the 15 Fenton delivered (many of which later appeared in the New York Review); all but the first focus on well-known 20th-century poets. His talks on Auden, Wilfred Owen and Larkin move easily among their famous poems, the materials of their biographies (including Larkin's mixed sympathies during World War II), the scholarship on their drafts and the assumptions about them that U.K. audiences have had. A talk on Marianne Moore looks beyond her later reputation for poetic modesty to see and hear, in her poems, an angry and political young woman. Another lecture shows how Plath but neither Bishop nor Moore considered herself first of all a woman poet, and how that vocation affected Plath's art. The lack of a philosophically acute take on modernism, on the one hand, and of a deep cognizance of all strands of American poetry from the last 20 years on the other, limits the insights throughout. But the book is very English in a manner Americans often crave attuned to traditions of amateurism, studiously casual even when most learned and scrupulous in prose style.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Fenton, who succeeded Seamus Heaney as Oxford Professor of Poetry from 1994 to 1999, opens this collection of his lectures with anecdotes about Michelangelo and issues of camaraderie among Renaissance Italian artists and later Romantic British poets. The essays that follow move through Wilfred Owen, Philip Larkin, and Seamus Heaney. Fenton then switches to Americans Marianne Moore, Elizabeth Bishop, and Sylvia Plath, stirring together the suffrage interests of Moore and the individuating Protestant appreciations of Bishop. He also relates an odd tale of Moore's sending Plath a note stating that her poetry is "grisly." D.H. Lawrence's burden of self-consciousness and Shakespeare's erotic if not homosexual sonnets have been subjects of renowned essays by Auden, and both topics are revisited by Fenton, as are some of Auden's own wartime haunts and complexities. Fenton adeptly handles the textualities of these writers' lives and uncovers many of the pressing urgencies that make the study of poetry provocative and vital. Scott Hightower, Fordham Univ., New York
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Farrar Straus Giroux; First US edition. edition (June 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0374228450
• ISBN-13: 978-0374228453
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.7 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,997,553 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Engaging and Often Provocative Book Rich With Insight, August 18, 2001

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This review is from: The Strength of Poetry (Oxford Lectures) (Hardcover)

While some published reviews on this book (which began as a series of lectures) are cautiously mixed, presumably on account of the book's lack of a philosophical perspective on modernism, my own is a rave (simply look elsewhere for a philosophical perspective--anyway, such books are easier to find) . For anyone who loves poetry, especially poetry in its more sophisticated forms (as opposed to the all-too usual sloppiness of slam poetry), this book offers the opportunity to have a dialogue with a brilliant poet and critic. For anyone who approaches poetry with trepidation, this book may be enough to convert you. Fenton's ability to excel at both poetry and criticism is all too rare in today's climate of popular culture; moreover, he writes for a broad audience. Just as he did in Leonardo's Nephew, he brings the characters he discusses vividly to life (reminding me, always, of the best hagiographers), always taking a broad approach which never attempts to separate the poet from his/her work, and always working hands-on with the poetry itself. Sometimes, this leads him to extremely provocative territory (as with Plath). His is a captive audience. In summary, this is an engaging, witty book rich with insight.

If you enjoy this book, or are interested in it, I would also recommend reading Bruce Bawer's Prophets and Professors.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars wondeful collection, August 11, 2004

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[e-mail] "[e-mail]" (Beaumont, tx USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Strength of Poetry: Oxford Lectures (Paperback)

Fenton has put together a great collection of essays/lectures covering a wide variety of subjects. He has some great essays on Plath, Auden, Moore, among others. There are a few dull essays. Don't get me wrong, they are intelligently written, it is just that the subject matter is dull (for example, Wilfred Owen's juvenalia). But on the whole this is a great collection for all poetry lovers.