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| The State of the Art
ISBN: 9780822980971
Platform/Publisher: Project MUSE / University of Pittsburgh Press
Digital rights: Users: Unlimited; Printing: Chapters; Download: Chapters
Subjects: POETRY / American / General.; Poetics.; American poetry; American poetry;
For the 27 years that the Best American Poetry series has been published, and for two "best of" editions, Lehman has invited a guest editor to select at least 50 and no more than 75 poems, with a foreword provided by Lehman himself. Those forewords are collected for the first time in this enjoyable book. They reflect general trends in poetry and criticism, along with Lehman's own concerns and his relationships with guest editors including Terrence Hayes, Charles Simic, Harold Bloom, Adrienne Rich, and Rita Dove. In 1992, Lehman called poetry "a burning issue," and that sentiment resonates throughout the collection, which does not shy away from timeliness. The foreword for 1990 references the fall of the Berlin Wall. Poetry slams are discussed with curiosity and welcome in 1995, despite the derision of some critics. Bill Clinton's creation of National Poetry Month is discussed, as are criticisms of it. Throughout all this, recurring motifs include the frequent declarations of poetry's death, the need for critics who are not poets, and the question of audience. To Lehman's mind, "poetry is unkillable" and readers are to be found everywhere, while the fate of American poetry is to be ever-evolving, not always good, but never to be dismissed. (Apr.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
David Lehman's books of poetry include New and Selected Poems , Yeshiva Boys , When a Woman Loves a Man , The Evening Sun , The Daily Mirror, and Valentine Place . He has edited The Oxford Book of American Poetry . A Fine Romance: Jewish Songwriters, American Songs, the most recent of his six nonfiction books, won the Deems Taylor Award from the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) in 2010. Lehman teaches in the graduate writing program of the New School in New York City. |
