A dazzling collection of essays on how the best poems work, from the master poet and essayist
JANE HIRSHFIELDis the author of eight books of poetry, includingThe Beauty;Come, Thief; After;andGiven Sugar, Given Salt.She has edited and cotranslated four books presenting the work of poets from the past and is the author of two major collections of essays,Nine Gates- Entering the Mind of PoetryandTen Windows- How Great Poems Transform the World.Her books have been finalists for the National Book Critics Circle Award and England's T. S. Eliot Prize; they have been named best books of the year by The Washington Post, San Francisco Chronicle, Amazon, and Financial Times; and they have won the California Book Award, the Poetry Center Book Award, and the Donald Hall-Jane Kenyon Prize in American Poetry. Hirshfield has received fellowships from the Guggenheim and Rockefeller foundations, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Academy of American Poets. Her poems appear inThe New Yorker, The Atlantic, The Times Literary Supplement, Poetry, The New Republic,and eight editions ofThe Best American Poetry.A resident of Northern California since 1974, she is a current chancellor of the Academy of American Poets.
“Probing and insightful…deeply illuminating…This brilliant
collection [asks], ‘How do poems—how does art—work?’ Hirshfield’s
original excursions take no shortcuts, subtly integrating image,
statement, experience, and understanding.” —World Literature
Today
“One of our finest poets [and] best essayists on the act of writing
and the art of poetry…She speaks to the largest audience of poetry
lovers...Windows are thrown open to a vision of poetry from the
inside looking out.” —New York Journal of Books
“In 20 or 30 years, this book may be remembered as one of the great
common-readers on the pleasures of poetry . . . . [Hirshfield’s]
approach to poetry is exhilarating. Reading her is reminiscent of
the joy found among the insights and illuminations of Hugh Kenner’s
best work . . . . This thrilling work of immense value is
truly an important book on one of the most important subjects:
poetry. However, like a strong drink (or a great poem) it probably
isn’t to be taken in a single gulp. It may even seem a little
intoxicating, but drink.”—Library Journal, starred review
"With precision and passion, Hirshfield elucidates poetry’s
“musical shapeliness,” “creative intention,” embrace of
uncertainty, and how poetry engenders a profound “unlatching.” She
draws stirring examples from Shakespeare, Hopkins, Whitman, Auden,
Bishop, Milosz, Brooks, and Komunyakaa and illuminates the power of
haiku in her affecting in-depth profile of the Japanese poet Bash.
Hirshfield writes brilliantly of paradox in poetry, of what poets
and stand-up comics have in common, and how poetry “counters
isolation and meaninglessness.” The profound pleasure Hirshfield
takes in delineating poetry’s efficacy makes for a beautifully
enlightening volume. —Donna Seaman, Booklist (starred review)
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