Inhabit the poem : last essays / Helen Vendler.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Vendler, Helen, 1933-2024, author.

Series:

Library of America

The Library of America

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Poetry--History and criticism.

Poetry.

Poetry--Appreciation.

Yeats, W. B. (William Butler), 1865-1939--Criticism and interpretation.

Yeats, W. B.

Stevens, Wallace, 1879-1955--Criticism and interpretation.

Stevens, Wallace.

Rich, Adrienne, 1929-2012--Criticism and interpretation.

Rich, Adrienne.

Hayden, Robert, 1913-1980--Criticism and interpretation.

Hayden, Robert.

Moore, Marianne, 1887-1972--Criticism and interpretation.

Moore, Marianne.

Donne, John, 1572-1631--Criticism and interpretation.

Donne, John.

Plath, Sylvia--Criticism and interpretation.

Plath, Sylvia.

Hopkins, Gerard Manley, 1844-1889--Criticism and interpretation.

Hopkins, Gerard Manley.

Vuong, Ocean, 1988---Criticism and interpretation.

Vuong, Ocean.

Blake, William, 1757-1827--Criticism and interpretation.

Blake, William.

Cowper, William, 1731-1800--Criticism and interpretation.

Cowper, William.

Whitman, Walt, 1819-1892--Criticism and interpretation.

Whitman, Walt.

Brontë, Emily, 1818-1848--Criticism and interpretation.

Brontë, Emily.

Dickinson, Emily, 1830-1886--Criticism and interpretation.

Dickinson, Emily.

Genre:

poetry.

Literary criticism.

Poetry.

Physical Description:

xv, 275 pages ; 21 cm.

Place of Publication:

New York : Library of America, [2025]

Summary:

"In this posthumous gift to poetry lovers, one of our foremost poetry critics revisits the work of a wide range of American, English, and Irish poets--from John Donne to Marianne Moore to Ocean Vuong--in thirteen insightful essays. Helen Vendler approaches each of her subjects through the lens of a single poem, inhabiting it, living completely within its world, to uncover its rich emotional life. The essays gathered here were published in Liberties magazine during the last three years of Vendler's life, and were intended as her final book. The author's preface--completed only three days before her death, at age ninety--serves as a summation of her thoughts on poetry and poetry crticism. Whether reflecting on a Black poet's interest in creating the mind and language of an extraterrestrial (Robert Hayden), on the poetics of motherhood (Slyvia Plath), on the first PTSD poem (Walt Whitman), or on a literary conundrum *why, of the many poems known to her, Emily Dickinson requested on her deathbed that Emily Brontë's 'No coward soul is mine' be read at her funeral), Vendler demonstrates why the Nobel Prize-winning poet Seamus Heaney called her 'the best close reader of poems to be found on the literary pages.' This farewell volume is further testament to Vendler's remarkable ability to get to the heart of a poem, to reveal the mind of the poet in the act of creation, and to show us exactly why and how poetry matters" -- Book jacket flap.

Contents:

Loosed quotes

The enigmatical beauty of each beautiful enigma

Art and anger

Strangering

Art against stereotype

How to talk to God

The new statue

The selfless self of self

The shaper

Artless art

Forced to smile

The red business: PTSD and the poet

Can poetry be abstract?

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 163-164) and index.

"William Butler Yeats, Wallace Stevens, Adrienne Rich, Robert Hayden, Marianne Moore, John Donne, Sylvia Plath, Gerard Manley Hopkins, Ocean Vuong, William Blake, William Cowper, Walt Whitman, Emily Brontë, Emily Dickinson." -- Book jacket cover

"All essays by Helen Vendler first published in Liberties magazine"--Title page verso.

ISBN:

9781598538274

1598538276

OCLC:

1531054602