One of Germany's greatest poets, Johann Christian Friedrich Hölderlin (1770-1843) was also a prose writer of intense feeling, intelligence and perception. This new translation of selected letters and essays traces the life and thoughts of this extraordinary writer. Hölderlin's letters to friends and fellow writers such as Hegel, Schiller and Goethe describe his development as a poet, while those written to his family speak with great passion of his beliefs and aspirations, as well as revealing money worries and, finally, the tragic unravelling of his sanity. These works examine Hölderlin's great preoccupations - the unity of existence, the relationship between art and nature and, above all, the spirit of the writer.
"A collection of essays by poet Julia Spicher Kasdorf focusing on aspects of Mennonite life. Essays examine issues of gender, cultural, and religious identity as they relate to the emergence and exercise of literary authority"--Provided by publisher.
Essential reading for scholars, poetry lovers, and anyone with an interest in Rainer Maria Rilke, German poetry, or the creative impulse, these ten letters of correspondence between Rilke and a young aspiring poet reveal elements from the inner workings of his own poetic identity. The letters coincided with an important stage of his artistic development and readers can trace many of the themes that later emerge in his best works to these messages—Rilke himself stated these letters contained part of his creative genius.
The P.R.I.D.E. Book of Poetry and Essays is designed to give inspiration and hope to inmates, their families and individuals that have not maximized their potential. The book is also designed to act as a buffer to give direction and encouragement under the paradigm of P.R.I.D.E.: Purpose, Respect, Integrity, Determination and Enthusiasm.
The Poet's Novel provides a unique entrance to the prose and poetry of many remarkable modern and contemporary poets including: Etel Adnan, Renee Gladman, Langston Hughes, Kevin Killian, Alice Notley, Leslie Scalapino, Jack Spicer, and Jean Toomer, whose approaches to the novel defy conventions of plot, character, setting and action. The contributors, all poets in their own right like, Brian Blanchfield, Brandon Brown, Mónica de la Torre, Cedar Sigo, and C.D. Wright bring a variety of insights, approaches, and writing styles to the subject with creative and often surprising results.
Readers will be delighted by the intimate reflections on life and poetry found in "First Loves". Affording close-up views of today's best poets, the book also (re)introduces readers to the timeless poems they selected. Featuring many Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award winners, the book includes essays by Seamus Heaney, Robert Pinsky, Jorie Graham, Yusef Komunyakaa, and many others.
Live life like it's a movement: full of purpose and fiery resolve. How? By finding your significance and leaning, perhaps falling, in the direction of your greatness. Maybe you fail. That's fine. Just don't quit. But make forward progress at all costs. Success is found in the sum of its parts and how they fit uniquely. In other words, you matter. Your story matters. Our stories matter. Hence, Letters to My People was born—a conversation that hopes to affirm and provoke a renaissance in your heart and soul. It's never too late to start living your excellence! So start today. Aspire.Letters to My People is a poignant collection of intimate essays, poems, and aphorisms that aims to spark a chain reaction: a wave of honest growth from a quiet storm to a revolution of intent. Consider these letters the reflections of a fellow sojourner walking along that determined road. Now, here's your invitation to join me! Give no regard to your past, your record of wins and losses, your status, or your current beliefs. Rather, exhale and dance alongside the words and rhythms on the pages that compel you to discover, confess, and own your calling. Learn how to seize your worth from a power-packed, insightful read. Learn to expect more. Then be dared to instill that same know-how in another. Be encouraged and challenged to tap into your greatest self. Be the you that the world needs—the flint that ignites another soul. A legacy unknown or unfulfilled is a life never truly broken in. Instead, find your own clarity through the provocative voice of another in pursuit of an inconvenient and uncommon truth. What is sown in this exchange is certain to be reaped in the peculiar ways that each life counts. As explained in one of the essays, find your mountain. Every mountain has a name on it; and every person, a victory waiting to be claimed. Read Letters to My People and step into a brave, new you, and frame the world you want to experience.
An impassioned call for a return to reading poetry and an incisive argument for poetry’s accessibility to all readers, by critically acclaimed poet Matthew Zapruder In Why Poetry, award-winning poet Matthew Zapruder takes on what it is that poetry—and poetry alone—can do. Zapruder argues that the way we have been taught to read poetry is the very thing that prevents us from enjoying it. In lively, lilting prose, he shows us how that misunderstanding interferes with our direct experience of poetry and creates the sense of confusion or inadequacy that many of us feel when faced with it. Zapruder explores what poems are, and how we can read them, so that we can, as Whitman wrote, “possess the origin of all poems,” without the aid of any teacher or expert. Most important, he asks how reading poetry can help us to lead our lives with greater meaning and purpose. Anchored in poetic analysis and steered through Zapruder’s personal experience of coming to the form, Why Poetry is engaging and conversational, even as it makes a passionate argument for the necessity of poetry in an age when information is constantly being mistaken for knowledge. While he provides a simple reading method for approaching poems and illuminates concepts like associative movement, metaphor, and negative capability, Zapruder explicitly confronts the obstacles that readers face when they encounter poetry to show us that poetry can be read, and enjoyed, by anyone.
