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The Weather of Words

Poetic Inventions

Mark Strand

$35

Paperback

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English
Random House USA Inc
15 September 2002
From the Pulitzer Prize-winning poet, a brilliant and witty collection of writings on the art and nature of poetry -- a master class both entertaining and provocative.

The pieces have a broad range and many levels. In one, we sit with the teenage Mark Strand while he reads for the first time a poem that truly amazes him- ""You, Andrew Marvell"" by Archibald MacLeish, in which night sweeps in an unstoppable but exhilarating circle around the earth toward the speaker standing at noon. The essay goes on to explicate the poem, but it also evokes, through its form and content, the poem's meaning -- time's circular passage -- with the young Strand first happening upon the poem, the older Strand seeing into it differently, but still amazed.

Among the other subjects Strand explores- the relationship between photographs and poems, the eternal nature of the lyric, the contemporary use of old forms, four American views of Parnassus, and an alphabet of poetic influences.

We visit as well Strandian parallel universes, whose absurdity illuminates the lack of a vital discussion of poetry in our culture at large- Borges drops in on a man taking a bath, perches on the edge of the tub, and discusses translation; a president explains in his farewell address why he reads Chekhov to his cabinet.

Throughout The Weather of Words, Mark Strand explores the crucial job of poets and their readers, who together joyfully attempt the impossible -- to understand through language that which lies beyond words.
By:  
Imprint:   Random House USA Inc
Country of Publication:   United States
Dimensions:   Height: 191mm,  Width: 127mm,  Spine: 10mm
Weight:   159g
ISBN:   9780375709708
ISBN 10:   0375709703
Pages:   160
Publication Date:  
Audience:   General/trade ,  ELT Advanced
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active

Mark Strand was born in Summerside, Prince Edward Island, Canada, and was raised and educated in the United States. He has written nine books of poems, which have brought him many honors and grants, including a MacArthur Fellowship and the 1999 Pulitzer Prize for Blizzard of One. He was chosen as Poet Laureate of the United States in 1990. He is also the author of a book of stories, Mr. and Mrs. Baby, several volumes of translations (works by Raphael Alberti and Carlos Drummond de Andrade, among others), the editor of a number of anthologies, and the author of two monographs on contemporary artists (William Bailey and Edward Hopper). He teaches in the Committee on Social Thought at the University of Chicago.

Reviews for The Weather of Words: Poetic Inventions

A primer on the magnanimity of poetry, with selected essays, criticism, reflections and inventions. Together they form a creed, which is this: A poem is the unassailable expression of what cannot be expressed in any other way... Poetry is ubiquitous and contagious, hilarious and holy; it bewitches children and converts housewives. Few American poets still write with joy and charmed irony, but in Strand the elation had not diminished. --Sara Miller, <i>Chicago Tribune</i>


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