DIVDIVA comprehensive volume collecting May Sarton’s poetry from over sixty years of work/divDIV This collection spanning six decades exposes the charm and clarity of Sarton’s poetry to the fullest. Arranged in chronological order, it follows the transformation of her writing through a wide range of poetic forms and styles. Her poetry meditates on topics including the American landscape, aging, nature, the act of creating art, and self-study. This compendium from one of America’s most beloved poets will enthrall readers. /div/div
A collection of poetry by the author of Endgame: A Journal of the Seventy-ninth Year and Among the Usual Days celebrates sixty years of creative output with poems culled from Sarton's thirteen previous books.
A splendidly edited anthology of the greatest poems of one of America’s finest writers From the very beginning of May Sarton’s career, in her fiction, memoir, and poetry, her work has been touched by a deep sense of order. The careful structure of her work provides an elegant backdrop against which her emotions are free to unfold, rising up through the cracks and fissures of her poems’ architecture only to pass through and disappear like a summer thunderstorm. The author’s search for reason, love of nature, and diverse passions are on full display in this masterful collection, illustrating why May Sarton is considered one of the twentieth century’s finest literary minds.
DIVDIVIn May Sarton’s seventeenth and final collection of poetry, the writer reflects on life, aging, and mortality/divDIV Coming into Eighty presents a poet’s look at age. Herein, Sarton gives readers a glimpse into her quotidian tasks, her memories, her losses, and her triumphs. The volume explores topics ranging from the war in Iraq to the struggle of taking a cat to the vet. Dark and immediate, this work catalogues both the tedium and the splendor of life with equal wit and beauty. Winner of the Levinson Prize./div/div
The writings of feminist author May Sarton, though often underappreciated during her lifetime, have attracted a wider audience since her death in 1995. This text is a guide to Sarton's poetry, novels, and memoirs for students and the interested general reader. Fulk (English, John Brown U.) provides biographical background information, discusses the primary themes in Sarton's writing, and emphasizes the spiritual dimensions of her thought. c. Book News Inc.
This transcript from the film World of Light: A Portrait of May Sarton illuminates the life and writing of the poet while celebrating the joys of creativity, love, and solitude In June of 1979, May Sarton answered the questions of two filmmakers and read to them from her poetry. This four-day “jam session” ultimately became an acclaimed documentary about her life and work. For Sarton, the muse has always been female, and the writer says that her own poems “tell me where to go.” In this rare and inspiring window into a singular woman’s soul, Sarton speaks candidly about everything from how a single image opened the door to writing about her mother to the importance of transparency in art and life. She shares insights into her very personal art, including the unusual people and events that provide inspiration, how creativity can grow out of pain, solitude as a two-edged sword, the difficulties of being a female poet, and the ways love can open “the door into one’s own secret and . . . frightening real self.” Featuring sections entitled “On Inner Space,” “On Nature,” and “On Love,” this revealing volume is also about the need go on, even when up against overwhelming odds. May Sarton: A Self-Portrait pays tribute to an artist’s vision and serves as a revealing window into a fascinating life.
The bestselling feminist author’s “lyrical, candid, sensitive” account of her efforts to regain her health, art, and sense of self after a stroke (Publishers Weekly). Feeling cut off and isolated—from herself most of all—after suffering a stroke at age 73, May Sarton began a journal that helped her along the road to recovery. She wrote every day without fail, even if illness sometimes prevented her from penning more than a few lines. From her sprawling house off the coast of Maine, Sarton shares the quotidian details of her life in the aftermath of what her doctors identified as a small brain hemorrhage. What they did not tell her was the effect it would have on her life and work. Sarton’s journal is filled with daily accounts of the weather, her garden, beloved pets, and her concerns about losing psychic energy and no longer feeling completely whole. A woman who had always prized her solitude, Sarton experiences feelings of intense loneliness. When overwhelmed by the past, she tries to find comfort in soothing remembrances of her travels, and struggles to learn to live moment by moment. As Sarton begins to regain her strength, she rejoices in the life “recaptured and in all that still lies ahead.” Interspersed with heartfelt recollections about fellow poets and aspiring writers who see in Sarton a powerful muse, this is a wise and moving memoir about life after illness.
In the hallowed halls of one of New England’s most prestigious colleges, a young woman finds new and unexpected life as professor while a scandal brews just on the periphery On the train north from New York City, Lucy Winter takes inventory of her life. Twenty-seven and newly single, Lucy is headed toward a fate she never anticipated: professorship at a women’s college in New England. Her doctorate degree, obtained from Harvard, was more of a hobby than a professional aspiration—something to occupy her time while her fiancé completed his medical studies nearby. But at Appleton College she finds new enthusiasm in academia, teaching young women to be brilliant in a society that does not yet value their intellect. When Lucy discovers a scandal involving a star student, she ignites controversy on the campus. Many in the faculty rush to either defend or condemn the student, who is carrying the burden that often accompanies excellence. At the center of the political maelstrom is Lucy, who, despite her newfound difficulties on campus, is finding that her unexpected detour to Appleton may lead to a more rich and rewarding life than she ever anticipated. An insightful and inspiring study of scholarship, teaching, and women in academia, The Small Room is also the memorable story of a young professor coming into her own.
National Book Award Finalist: A couple returns to an Irish village after years away in this novel by the New York Times–bestselling author of As We Are Now. The Irish estate home Dene’s Court has been empty for years—its icy visage, shuttered windows, and overgrown tennis court are a burden for its caretakers and a curiosity for the nearby townspeople. And so the announcement that Violet Dene Gordon and her husband, Charles, are on their way back from British Burma to settle in the long-dormant estate sends a ripple of excitement through the sleepy village. For Violet, Dene’s Court stands as a monument to her childhood, but lingering doubts remain about whether she and Charles will be happy there. Adding complexity to the arrangement is the arrival of Violet’s American niece, a college student named Sally who has been sent by her mother in an effort to put an ocean between the impetuous young woman and the object of her affection, an actor. Anxiety, tempers, and long-buried emotions flare as the estate’s new residents search for a sense of belonging and peace between its hallowed and serene walls.
“May Sarton’s provocative novel is about a wife who has outgrown her husband, and after twenty-seven years of marriage decides that she has had enough. . . . [Poppy] is altogether believable.” —The Atlantic To their close friend Philip, Poppy and Reed Whitelaw’s marriage appears stable and happy. Their ritual Sunday tennis matches and dinners are a highlight of his week, and the Whitelaws’ repartee is an object of wonder and admiration. But beneath the surface, the marriage has slowly been unraveling for years. An artist, Poppy feels the weight of time, calculating that she has twenty good years left for her work and little remaining tolerance for her diminishing marriage. And so, as newscasts about Vietnam and Watergate issue nightly warnings about the dangers of deceit and delusion, Poppy has decided to leave. The separation guts Philip, who finds that his investment in the affairs of his friends outweighs his investment in his own. The relationship between the three friends had often been riven by jealousy, and the cataclysm of the Whitelaws’ separation does little to lessen anxieties roiling beneath the surface. As those in the Whitelaws’ orbit struggle to adjust to their new reality, a world of buried feelings rise inevitably to the fore.
