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Virtuosity : risk and excess in poetic form / Ailbhe Darcy
- Format:
- Book
- Author/Creator:
- Darcy, Ailbhe, 1981- author.
- Series:
- Cambridge elements. Elements in poetry and poetics
- Cambridge elements. Elements in poetry and poetics, 2752-5236
- Language:
- English
- Subjects (All):
- Jess, Tyehimba--Criticism and interpretation.
- Jess, Tyehimba.
- McSweeney, Joyelle, 1976---Criticism and interpretation.
- McSweeney, Joyelle.
- Muldoon, Paul--Criticism and interpretation.
- Muldoon, Paul.
- American poetry--21st century--History and criticism.
- American poetry.
- English poetry--21st century--History and criticism.
- English poetry.
- Perfection in literature.
- Virtues in literature.
- Genre:
- Criticism, interpretation, etc.
- Physical Description:
- 1 online resource
- Place of Publication:
- Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2026
- Summary:
- "This Element examines how contemporary poets reimagine virtuosity as a mode of poetic performance. It sees virtuosity not as a fixed attribute but a strategic choice - one a poet may enter at specific moments, in specific forms, to heighten the reader's experience. Certain forms are themselves virtuosic, inviting expectations of difficulty, display, and compositional drama. Through readings of Paul Muldoon, Tyehimba Jess, and Joyelle McSweeney, the Element explores how poetic virtuosity stages not just skill, but stakes: a charged interplay of technique and expressivity. These poets embrace formal extravagance and linguistic excess, making visible the labour of composition while risking the charge of style over substance. Drawing on a nineteenth-century lineage of debates in music and art, the Element traces how poetic virtuosity confronts crisis. In doing so, it rethinks poetic form as an aesthetic of risk, outpouring, and resistance"-- Cambridge Core
- Contents:
- Introduction : form as performance
- The virtuoso : Paul Muldoon
- ‘Grins all round’ : Tyehimba Jess’s Olio
- Language deluge : Joyelle McSweeney’s Toxicon and Arachne
- Notes:
- Includes bibliographical references
- Online resource; title from PDF title page (Cambridge Core, viewed June 16, 2026)
- Other Format:
- Print version: Darcy, Ailbhe, 1981- Virtuosity
- ISBN:
- 9781009323697
- 1009323695
- OCLC:
- 1579819038
- Publisher Number:
- CIPO000385664
- Access Restriction:
- Restricted for use by site license
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