From the rear cover
In Twenty Questions, one of America's finest poet-critics leads readers into the mysteries of poetry: how it draws on our lives, and how it leads us back into them. In a series of linked essays progressing from the autobiographical to the critical - and closing with a remarkable translation of Horace's Ars Poetica unavailable elsewhere - J. D. McClatchy's latest book offers an intimate and illuminating look into the poetic mind. McClatchy begins with a portrait of his development as a poet, and provides vibrant details about some of those who helped shape his sensibility - from Anne Sexton in her final days, to Harold Bloom, his enigmatic teacher at Yale, to James Merrill, a wise and witty mentor. All of these glimpses into McClatchy's personal history enhance our understanding of a coming of age from ingenuous reader to accomplished poet-critic. Later sections range through poetry past and present - from Emily Dickinson to Seamus Heaney and W. S. Merwin - with incisive criticism generously interspersed with vivid anecdotes about McClatchy's encounters with other poets' lives and work. A critical unpacking of Alexander Pope's "Epistle to Miss Blount", for instance, is interwoven with a compassionate psychological portrait of a brilliant poet plagued by both romantic longings and debilitating physical deformities. There are surprising takes on the literary imagination as well: a look at Elizabeth Bishop through her letters, and a tribute to the Broadway lyrics of Stephen Sondheim.
Details
- Title Twenty Questions
- Author J. D. McClatchy
- Binding Hardcover
- Edition First Edition
- Pages 224
- Volumes 1
- Language ENG
- Publisher Columbia University Press, New York
- Date 1998
- Features Index
- ISBN 9780231111720 / 023111172X
- Weight 1.07 lbs (0.49 kg)
- Dimensions 9.28 x 6.25 x 0.81 in (23.57 x 15.88 x 2.06 cm)
-
Themes
- Sex & Gender: Gay
- Library of Congress subjects Poetry, McClatchy, J. D. - Authorship
- Library of Congress Catalog Number 97049622
- Dewey Decimal Code 811.54
Media reviews
Citations
- Library Journal, 05/01/1998, Page 98
- Publishers Weekly, 02/23/1998, Page 62
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