I am heading into the third semester at Pacific, where in lieu of ongoing commentaries on individual works, I will be writing a longer critical essay. At this point, I am thinking about writing about Seamus Heaney, and in particular how he successfully navigates numerous dialectic elements in contemporary poetry, such as:
Narration Lyricism Free verse Meter & rhyme Meaning “Precious Nonsense“ Stichic Stanzaic Plain Speech Elevated diction
In addition, I will continue to read widely from a variety of sources. Here is what I am thinking about adding to my reading list:
On Poetry
- Fredrick Smock, Poetry And Compassion (thank you, Mr. Carter)
- Dorianne Laux and Kim Adonizzo, The Poet’s Companion: A Guide to the Pleasures of Writing Poetry
- Stephen Berg (ed.), Singular Voices: American Poetry Today
Poetry
- Umberto Saba, Songbook: Selected Poems from the Canzoniere of Umberto Saba (trans. Stephen Sartarelli)
- Marvin Bell, The Book Of The Dead Man and Mars Being Red
- Paul Muldoon, Horse Latitudes
- Jane Mead, The Lord and the General Din of the World
- Ron Silliman (ed.), In The American Tree
- Patrick Kavanagh, Collected Poems
- Eavan Boland, Selected Poems
- Seamus Heaney, Opened Ground: Poems 1966-1996
- Seamus Heaney, District and Circle
- Medbh McGuckian, Selected Poems: 1978-1994
- David St. John, Study for the World’s Body: New and Selected Poems
- Tony Curtis (ed.), The Art of Seamus Heaney
- Paul Celan, Poems of Paul Celan: A Bilingual German/English Edition
Ideas For Poetry Book Structure
- Issa, The Year Of My Life (trans. Nobuyuki Yuasa)
- Basho, Back Roads To Far Towns (trans. Kamaike Susumu and Cid Corman)
- Robert Lowell, Life Studies
- Roland Barthes, A Lover’s Discourse: Fragments (trans. Richard Howard)
This is only a cursory sketch for now. Any suggestions?