Elizabeth Lund, in her latest poetry round-up for the Washington Post, reviews the latest collections by David Lehman, Airea D. Matthews, and Robert Wrigley.
About David Lehman's collection, she writes,
<<< In 2002, David Lehman began an intriguing exercise: to write poems that both honored and mimicked the works of his favorite poets. Lehman’s choices were wide — ranging from Wordsworth, Whitman and Keats to Gwendolyn Brooks, Charles Bukowski and Bob Dylan. His approximations also paid homage to cultural icons, including Marilyn Monroe and the Brooklyn Bridge. Together in one volume, Poems in the Manner Of(Scribner), these works read like an eclectic course in major poets and poetic movements. Lehman, who founded and is the series editor of Best American Poetry, introduces each “poem in the manner of” with notes about the subject’s style and approach, or about what he tried to achieve with his rendition. The strongest work captures the spirit of the original yet also stands on its own merits, as with “Poem in the manner of Basho: “Pond/ Frog/ Splash” or with the lovely translation of Goethe’s “Wandrers Nachtlied,” which begins with quiet coming across the treetops and ends with “Just wait; soon you/ Will be quiet, too.” As the collection continues, readers see how modeling one’s writing after the masters can lead to fascinating discoveries and extend one’s own poetic range. >>>
Cick here for her reviews of Matthews and Wrigley.
Great review for a great book.
Posted by: Catherine Woodard | April 08, 2017 at 10:10 AM