The Work of Poetry [Paperback]

John Hollander (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 15, 1997 | ISBN-10: 0231108966 | ISBN-13: 978-0231108966 | Edition: First Edition / First Printing

New and classic essays by one of America's most distinguished contemporary poet-critics, The Work of Poetry surveys an extraordinary range of poets, from Dante to May Swenson, and George Meredith to Marianne Moore, as well as works from the Psalms to A Child's Garden of Verses. By turns generous and uncompromising, Hollander champions the enduring force of poetry against the incursion of fashionable writing. This is an elegant, uncompromising affirmation of the extraordinary powers of poetic imagination from a poet whose poems have been hailed by J.D. McClatchy as "ways of thinking on paper."

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

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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Product Details

• Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: Columbia University Press; First Edition / First Printing edition (April 15, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0231108966
• ISBN-13: 978-0231108966
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 6.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,879,026 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Poetry Itself, May 27, 2001

By 

Vicki Hearne (Westbrook, CT United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Work of Poetry (Paperback)

In an age in which poetry is judged as a kind of mood music, this book will appear strange, maybe arcane, "academic," or even hostile. However, this book is balm for anyone who knows what poetry really is. Hollander is among a handful of the best alive. His pedagogical skills and courtesies are enormous, and here carefully and generously deployed. Difficulties with this book are a function of the difficulties of poetry itself. Without which, as the doctor and poet WC Williams noted, men die miserably every day. Give it your best, and it will give you the best.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars How to Understand Poetry, May 28, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: The Work of Poetry (Paperback)

This is the best show-and-tell I have ever seen to the art of poetry. Instead of merely describing or defining various terms. Hollander unleashes all of his conisderable poetic talent to show you what a sonnet or a villanelle or an imabic pentameter line is. No one does it better. He has the entire range and history of English language poetry at his command. His ear is a natural wonder.

5 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing, June 11, 2000

By 

William O'Neill M.D. (Milwaukee, Wi.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Work of Poetry (Paperback)

Perhaps, if you have a Ph.D. in English, belong to the Modern Languages Association, and teach in a university where postmodernism is requisite, this is the book for you. I gave up half way through, finding these essays for the most part too rambling and self-referential - too "academic." If you are not a professional academic but are curious about why and how poetry moves one, spend your money on Mary Oliver's A Handbook of Poetry - half the price, half the length, and twenty times the useful information.