From Publishers Weekly
Showing how one can work from "Pulse and Impulse," "Shapes Merging and Emerging" and even "Against Your Beliefs," poet W.D. Snodgrass offers a series of well-tempered how-tos in To Sound Like Yourself: Essays on Poetry. Snodgrass, whose Pulitzer Priz -winning Hearts Needle (1960) remains influential, gives prosodic examples from Whitman, shows how to add just the right amount of acid to parody and gives sound advice on all sorts of syllabic manipulations. Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Book Description
In his first collection of essays on poetry in 27 years, W.D. Snodgrass goes after that seminal quality, the poet_s individual voice, that separates the best poetry from the merely technical and pedantic. Beginning with an essay on the poetic impulse, and continuing through prosody and musicality, Snodgrass gives us an essential handbook for poets and poetry readers.Responsible for the emergence of American confessional poetry, W.D. Snodgrass won the 1960 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for his first book, Heart_s Needle. He lives with his wife, critic and translator Kathleen Snodgrass, in Erieville, New York, and San Miguel de Allende, Mexico.
To Sound like Yourself: Essays on Poetry, Vol. 1 FROM THE PUBLISHER
In To Sound Like Yourself, poet W. D. Snodgrass goes after that singular quality, the poet's individual voice, that separates the best poetry from the merely technical and pedantic. Beginning with an essay on the poetic impulse, Snodgrass discusses natural rhythms, such as in the owl's call, the rocking of the cradle, and how they correspond to common verse metrics. Later, in discussions of such poems as Sir Thomas Wyatt's "They Flee from Me," and in a frank and thorough discussion of Walt Whitman's life and art, Snodgrass lauds the individuating process that occurs when a poet's own technique bursts the boundaries of form. In his final essay in the volume, "Meter, Music, Meaning," he points out how stresses and rhythms not only give us the music of poetry, but also help deliver a poem's meaning. To Sound Like Yourself is essential reading for poets and students of poetry.
FROM THE CRITICS
Publishers Weekly
Showing how one can work from "Pulse and Impulse," "Shapes Merging and Emerging" and even "Against Your Beliefs," poet W.D. Snodgrass offers a series of well-tempered how-tos in To Sound Like Yourself: Essays on Poetry. Snodgrass, whose Pulitzer Prize-winning Hearts Needle (1960) remains influential, gives prosodic examples from Whitman, shows how to add just the right amount of acid to parody and gives sound advice on all sorts of syllabic manipulations. Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.
Library Journal
Two new entries in the recent spate of books about poetry delve into that elusive concept, the poet's voice. In To Sound Like Yourself, The Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Snodgrass offers six lengthy essays examining wordplay, musicality, and other elements that contribute to a distinctive voice. He includes lively descriptions of his own sources of inspiration-owls and belly dancers among them-as well as analysis of other poets, from Whitman to Wordsworth. At times, his complex evaluations seem culled from a graduate-level literature course, assuming familiarity with lesser-known writers, a grasp of music notation, and training in other languages. In Coming of Age as a Poet, Vendler, a renowned poetry critic and author, chooses one breakthrough poem by each of four poets-Milton, Keats, Eliot, and Plath. Through close readings of their structure, imagery, and scansion, she shows how these poems mark each poet's mastery of a unique voice. Three of the four chapters are based on lectures given at the University of Aberdeen. The clarity and expert analysis of all four poems could engage even a casual reader, while the breadth of scholarship and unique interpretations will appeal to more experienced poetry readers. Vendler's work is highly recommended for public and academic libraries, while Snodgrass's work is more appropriate for large university libraries.-Vivian Reed, California State Univ., Long Beach Copyright 2003 Cahners Business Information.
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