Poetry Notebook: Reflections on the Intensity of Language
Legendary poet and critic Clive James provides an unforgettably eloquent book on how to read and appreciate modern poetry.
Since its initial publication, Poetry Notebook has become a must-read for any lover of poetry. Somewhat of an iconoclast, Clive James gets to the heart of truths about poetry not always addressed, “some hard” but always “firmly committed to celebration” (Martin Amis). He presents a distillation of all he’s learned about the art form that matters to him most. James examines the poems and legacies of a panorama of twentieth-century poets, from Hart Crane to Ezra Pound (a “mad old amateur fascist with a panscopic grab bag”), from Ted Hughes to Anne Sexton. Whether demanding that poetry be heard beyond the world of letters or opining on his five favorite poets (Yeats, Frost, Auden, Wilbur, and Larkin), his “generosity of attention, his willingness to trawl through pages of verse in search of the hair-raising line, is his most appealing quality as a critic” (Adam Kirsch, Wall Street Journal).
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Poetry Notebook: Reflections on the Intensity of Language
Legendary poet and critic Clive James provides an unforgettably eloquent book on how to read and appreciate modern poetry.
Since its initial publication, Poetry Notebook has become a must-read for any lover of poetry. Somewhat of an iconoclast, Clive James gets to the heart of truths about poetry not always addressed, “some hard” but always “firmly committed to celebration” (Martin Amis). He presents a distillation of all he’s learned about the art form that matters to him most. James examines the poems and legacies of a panorama of twentieth-century poets, from Hart Crane to Ezra Pound (a “mad old amateur fascist with a panscopic grab bag”), from Ted Hughes to Anne Sexton. Whether demanding that poetry be heard beyond the world of letters or opining on his five favorite poets (Yeats, Frost, Auden, Wilbur, and Larkin), his “generosity of attention, his willingness to trawl through pages of verse in search of the hair-raising line, is his most appealing quality as a critic” (Adam Kirsch, Wall Street Journal).
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Poetry Notebook: Reflections on the Intensity of Language
Legendary poet and critic Clive James provides an unforgettably eloquent book on how to read and appreciate modern poetry.
Since its initial publication, Poetry Notebook has become a must-read for any lover of poetry. Somewhat of an iconoclast, Clive James gets to the heart of truths about poetry not always addressed, “some hard” but always “firmly committed to celebration” (Martin Amis). He presents a distillation of all he’s learned about the art form that matters to him most. James examines the poems and legacies of a panorama of twentieth-century poets, from Hart Crane to Ezra Pound (a “mad old amateur fascist with a panscopic grab bag”), from Ted Hughes to Anne Sexton. Whether demanding that poetry be heard beyond the world of letters or opining on his five favorite poets (Yeats, Frost, Auden, Wilbur, and Larkin), his “generosity of attention, his willingness to trawl through pages of verse in search of the hair-raising line, is his most appealing quality as a critic” (Adam Kirsch, Wall Street Journal).
Clive James (1939—2019), author of the best-selling Cultural Amnesia and Poetry Notebook, was an Officer of the Order of Australia and a Commander of the Order of the British Empire. His writing appeared in the New York Times Book Review, The New Yorker, and The Atlantic.
Table of Contents
Introduction xi
Acknowledgements xvii
Part I Notes On Poetry
Listening to the Flavour 3
Five Favourite Poetry Books 14
The Arrow Has Not Two Points 19
Meeting MacNeice 33
Little Low Heavens 36
On a Second Reading 49
Poetry Archive Tour 62
The Necessary Minimum 66
A Deeper Consideration 80
Product Placement in Modern Poetry 94
Technique's Marginal Centrality 109
A Stretch of Verse 123
The Donaghy Negotiation 137
There You Come Home 146
Interior Music 154
Part II Other Articles About Poetry
John Updike's Poetic Finality 169
Stephen Edgar Stays Perfect 174
Poetry Heaven, Election Hell 180
Les Murray's Palatial New Shed 187
Talking to Posterity: Peter Porter 1929-2010 194
Elegance in Overalls: The American Pastoral of Christian Wiman 200
