Read Twenty Poems That Could Save America and Other Essays Tony Hoagland Books
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A fearless, wide-ranging book on the state of poetry and American literary culture by Tony Hoagland, the author of What Narcissism Means to Me
Live American poetry is absent from our public schools. The teaching of poetry languishes, and that region of youthful neurological terrain capable of being ignited only by poetry is largely dark, unpopulated, and silent, like a classroom whose shades are drawn. This is more than a shame, for poetry is our common treasure-house, and we need its vitality, its respect for the subconscious, its willingness to entertain ambiguity, its plaintive truth-telling, and its imaginative exhibitions of linguistic freedom, which confront the general culture's more grotesque manipulations. We need the emotional training sessions poetry conducts us through. We need its previews of coming attractions heartbreak, survival, failure, endurance, understanding, more heartbreak.
―from "Twenty Poems That Could Save America"
Twenty Poems That Could Save America presents insightful essays on the craft of poetry and a bold conversation about the role of poetry in contemporary culture. Essays on the "vertigo" effects of new poetry give way to appraisals of Robert Bly, Sharon Olds, and Dean Young. At the heart of this book is an honesty and curiosity about the ways poetry can influence America at both the private and public levels. Tony Hoagland is already one of this country's most provocative poets, and this book confirms his role as a restless and perceptive literary and cultural critic.
Read Twenty Poems That Could Save America and Other Essays Tony Hoagland Books
"Hoagland is a great advocate for poetry and its necessity for the human soul. As a beginning poet, I came to a better understanding of where my efforts fall into the spectrum of American poetry (somewhere in the late 20th century), and I found these essays really useful in understanding both what poets of earlier generations sought to do and what contemporary poets are striving for in their use of language without its usual connection to making meaning. He walks you through a poem, pointing out things you'd probably miss without him, and he makes a strong case for teaching more poetry in our high schools. He concludes with his list of 20 poems alluded to by the title."
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Twenty Poems That Could Save America and Other Essays Tony Hoagland Books Reviews :
Twenty Poems That Could Save America and Other Essays Tony Hoagland Books Reviews
- These essays amaze. They're like listening to craft lectures given by faculty at a low-residency MFA program. (I suspect Hoagland delivered some of these at Warren Wilson.)
I find a couple essays particularly useful. "Poetic Housing Shifting Parts and Changing Wholes" deals with recognizing the center of gravity of a poem and using that as the touchstone to determine to what extent digressions or subordinate elements might be emphasized.
Another essay discusses the "composite poem." How do we manage all the information assaulting our sensibilities these days (science, politics, history, art, etc.)? This leads to a follow-up essay in what Hoagland calls "vertigo poetry," "the preeminent topic of contemporary poetry," a reflection of the dissociation and dizziness created by contemporary life. These essays are useful not only for insight into our own writing, but also for the tools and language to make (hopefully) useful comments in writing workshops.
Hoagland also analyzes the style and contribution of a number of poets--Dean Young, Robert Bly, Sharon Olds--along with the legacy of the New York School (O'Hara and others.) And the comparison/contrast of Marie Howe, Jane Hirschfield, and Linda Gregg is perceptive and clarifying.
The final essay that gives the book its title--"Twenty Poems that Could Save America"--bemoans the fact that, to a large extent, secondary teachers don't teach poetry very well, mostly because they, themselves, are uncomfortable with poetry. Like Robert Pinsky in "The Singing School," Hoagland offers 20 poems, with rationales (largely thematic) for about half of them, that might be added to the curriculum. I wish it were that easy. I wish more teachers had even a small percentage of the sensibility to tone, line, and diction that Hoagland has, but most teachers, I suspect, come to language through the novel. And the spectre of state testing (to create workers with critical skills) looms far larger and presses more immediately than poetry (to develop citizens with compassion and perspective.) These poems would, eventually, have to carry the weight of To Kill a Mockingbird or Julius Caesar to have the effect Hoagland envisions.
Despite these political limitations, Hoagland's book on craft is one of the best that I've read in a long time. This book should be on the reading lists for MFA programs shortly. For anyone currently writing and/or in a writing group, this book will present a number of aspects of craft to consider. And high school English teachers (including AP Lit teachers) might take the strategies Hoagland analyzes in the early essays to help students see how the language of these poems reflect/capture the world they (and we) live in now. - I read this in 24 hours. I ignored people important to me and nothing practical got done. It's the second book about poetic craft I read this week by Hoagland. The first was Real Sofistikashun which was also fabulous. If I had to differentiate between the two, I'd say that the RS provided a touch more practical advice on poetic choice making and aesthetics. This book also does plenty of that , but it focuses more on discussing those choices through the study of some fantastic individual poets. The chapters on Robert Bly and Dean Young alone are worth buying this book for. I am incredibly thankful for Hoagland's wealth of poetic knowledge, but even more so for his repeated (in both books) and courageous contention that American poetry needs BOTH the poets and poetics of fragmentation and chaos and the poets and poetics of the rage for order and balance. He clearly understands the variety of techniques "difficult" poets use to make their poems quite obscure and sometimes impenetrable. Hoagland has respect for these poets and for many of the poems--which happen to be the fashion of the day. But he's not cowed by the sometimes dismissive intellectualism of this poetics and offers elegant and compelling alternatives (the chapter about Marie Howe for instance) throughout.
- Hoagland is a great advocate for poetry and its necessity for the human soul. As a beginning poet, I came to a better understanding of where my efforts fall into the spectrum of American poetry (somewhere in the late 20th century), and I found these essays really useful in understanding both what poets of earlier generations sought to do and what contemporary poets are striving for in their use of language without its usual connection to making meaning. He walks you through a poem, pointing out things you'd probably miss without him, and he makes a strong case for teaching more poetry in our high schools. He concludes with his list of 20 poems alluded to by the title.
- I love the title essay!! I love how beautifully Hoagland describes the (potential) value and use of poetry in our society.
- A rare inside look at where poetry is today, and why so many stay away from it. Concrete. Honest. Compelling. A compass for those willing to jump into the possibility of having a relationship with something as (insert your own word) as poetry, just might be, a real good thing.
- Okay, not Great.
- If you love poetry and want to understand the different schools of writers, this is the book. Great clarity and humor. Hoagland's done it again...but this time it's even greater.
- Great
