"What You See Is Nothing Compared to the Root": -- Images of the Psyche in the Poem -- Ceremony and Discrimination: Two Muscles of Poetry -- What These Ithakas Mean: -- Some Thoughts about Metaphor and Questing -- Cast Swine before Pearls: -- Comedy, Shamanic Rage, and Poetry -- The Bravery of Trespass: -- Four Poems about Race by White Poets -- No Laughing Matter: Race, Poetry, and Humor -- "I Seem to Be at a Great Feast": -- The War Poems of Guillaume Apollinaire -- The Pursuit of Ignorance: -- The Challenging Figuration of Not Knowing -- The Power of Coldness -- "I Live My Life in Growing Orbits": -- Robert Bly as Role Model -- "Who Wished to Improve Us a Little by Living": -- Remembering Auden's Influence -- The Poet as Wounded Citizen -- Mass Culture and the American Poet: -- The Poem as Vaccination -- The Wild Life of Metaphor: -- Prehensile, Triangulating, Insubordinate -- Poetry, the Dangers of Realism, and the -- Revisionist Power of Fantasy -- Greatness Is All Around Us.
Summary:
"The Underground Poetry Metro Transportation System for Souls collects 16 essays by late Tony Hoagland. Gathered by Hoagland himself into a volume for the Poets on Poetry series, these pieces grapple with an expansive range of poetic and cultural concerns-and the surprising and necessary knowledge to be found where they cross paths. His trademark humor and irony, at once approachable, thoughtful, and sophisticated, lead the way toward clear-eyed, sometimes difficult, considerations of contemporary American culture. Through his curiosity, he elevates the seemingly quotidian into a profound subject worthy of close consideration. Hoagland's generosity of spirit imbues his work with empathy for experiences beyond his own, and his honesty allows him to turn a critical eye on himself and to acknowledge the limits of his understanding. This collection will be rewarding not just for readers of contemporary poetry, but for anyone who wants to step back, take a look at our American reality, and know we'll be okay"-- Provided by publisher.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.