Becoming Poetry - by Jay Rogoff (Paperback)

About the Book

"Becoming Poetry focuses on helping readers grasp how poetry works upon our understanding and our imagination. A model of practical criticism, this volume of essays by the poet Jay Rogoff prizes the specific example over theoretical generalization and performs close critical examination of texts from a diverse range of poets, classical and contemporary. "Formalities," the first section, deals with formal elements in works by poets ranging historically from Shakespeare and Emily Dickinson to contemporary writers such as Andrew Hudgins, Paul Muldoon, and Mary Jo Salter. The central section examines collections of new and selected poems that offer work from poets' entire careers. Rogoff considers how such volumes assemble a body of poetry that then, for readers, defines the essential character of each poet. The poets considered in this section include Philip Booth, Jane Cooper, Robert Dana, Eamonn Grennan, Rachel Hadas, Hafiz, James Henry, Edward Hirsch, Daniel Hoffman, Michael Jennings, Mary Oliver, Kay Ryan, Karl Shapiro, W. D. Snodgrass, Edward Thomas, and David Wojahn. Throughout, Rogoff discusses how the poetry operates, keeping in mind, to paraphrase the scholar Stephen Booth, that a poem is a sequence of actions upon the understanding of the reader. A briefer final section, "The Ear," explores the aural qualities of poetry and music, distinguishing between the experience of poetry on the ear and on the page. Designed as a guide for readers of poetry who want to understand more about what makes it tick, Becoming Poetry presents approachable discussions that show how poetry operates on us and how it creates a virtual, affective experience of lasting power and value"--

Book Synopsis

Winner of the Lewis P. Simpson Award

In Becoming Poetry, Jay Rogoff closely inspects the work of two dozen poets, his forebears and his contemporaries, to reveal how their poetry achieves its impact upon readers. His essays, drawn from more than twenty years of literary criticism, explore how the staying power of a poet's work and the likelihood of its enjoying a lasting identification with its creator depend on the skilled manipulation of poetic technique. Considering how poetry can manifest a vividly conceived world of feeling and sensation, Rogoff maintains that we understand and evaluate poets by the sum of their most persuasive inventive strategies, including their attention to form. The poet, finally, constructs a uniquely imagined universe and thus, in the minds of readers, becomes the poetry.

A model of practical criticism, intended for enthusiasts at all levels, Becoming Poetry demystifies how poetry operates on its audience to create a virtual, affective experience of lasting power and value.

Review Quotes

"A well-made account of the inner workings of poems from a contemporary virtuoso of the craft. With a teacher's precision and a critic's flair, Rogoff examines how poets create the illusions that make a poem last. These splendid essays hold the technical and the numinous in artful tension as they demonstrate how poets become their poetry."--Maggie Greaves, author of Lyric Poetry and Space Exploration from Einstein to the Present

"Becoming Poetry earns its title, marking the reciprocities between the poem and the means involved in writing it. Rogoff, a poet, brings a watchmaker's attention to poems' workings in arresting, precisely considered prose. The immersive process of becoming poetry, which Rogoff makes legible, discloses the most enduring symbiosis between language and being."--JoEllen Kwiatek, author of Study for Necessity

"Jay Rogoff, one of our most consistently interesting poets, shows he is also one of our best critics of poetry. Becoming Poetry features brilliant essays on the differences between poetry and song, Shakespeare's sonnets, and Williams's struggle with Pound in Paterson, and a deft survey of contemporary poets. On poetic accent and metrical form, he is profoundly instructive. Every lover of poetry will want this book."--David Mikics, author of Slow Reading in a Hurried Age

"Rogoff earns a proud place in the grand tradition of the poet-critic. His experience with poetic craft yields insight, sympathy, and candor in discussing his fellow practitioners."--Terence Diggory, author of William Carlos Williams and the Ethics of Painting

About the Author

Jay Rogoff has published seven books of poetry, including Loving in Truth: New and Selected Poems. His literary criticism has appeared in the Kenyon Review, Literary Imagination, the Southern Review, and many other journals. He lives in Saratoga Springs, New York.