The Language of Life: A Festival of Poets

by Bill Moyers Narrated by Bill Moyers

Overview

"Poets live the lives all of us live," says Bill Moyers, "with one big difference. They have the power--the power of the word--to create a world of thoughts and emotions other can share. We only have to learn to listen."



In a series of fascinating conversations with thirty-four American poets, The Language Of Life celebrates language in its "most exalted, wrenching, delighted, and concentrated form," and its unique power to re-create the human experience: falling in love, facing death, leaving home, playing basketball, losing faith, finding God. Listening to Linda McCarriston's award-winning poems about a child trapped in a violent home, or to Jimmy Santiago Baca explaining how words changed his life in prison, or to David Mura describing his Japanese American grandfather's experience in relocation camps, or to Sekou Sundiata stitching the magic of his childhood church in Harlem to the African tradition of storytelling, or to Gary Snyder invoking the natural wonder of mountains and rivers, or to Adrienne Rich calling for honesty in human relations, all testify to the necessity and clarity of the poet's voice, and all give hope that from such a wide variety of racial, ethnic, and religious threads we might yet weave a new American fabric.



"'Listen,' said the storytellers of old, 'listen and you shall hear,'" explains Bill Moyers. The Language Of Life is a joyous, life-affirming invitation to listen, learn, and experience the exhilarating power of the spoken word.


From the Trade Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

Library Journal

The Language of Life offers the complete audio track to Moyers's PBS television series. Listeners will hear participants in the Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival as they read their work and discuss the ideas behind their poetry. Moyers shows his usual enthusiasm while interviewing the poets and discovering what makes each of them unique. Although this presentation will not attract as diverse an audience as his previous programs (e.g., Bill Moyers' World of Ideas: Dissolving Boundaries, Audio Reviews, LJ 9/1/91), the material contains the work of poets from nearly every school and culture. From the Japanese haiku poetry translated by Robert Haas to the emotionally moving poems of Daisy Zamora, there is literally something for everyone here. Recommended for future poets and the libraries they frequent.-Theresa Connors, Arkansas Technological Univ., Russellville

Product Details

BN ID:	2940172076541
Publisher:	Penguin Random House
Publication date:	07/05/2000
Edition description:	Unabridged

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