How Poets Progress
by Craig Morgan Teicher
One of our most perceptive critics on the ways that poets develop poems, a career, and a life.
Though it seems, at first, like an art of speaking, poetry is an art of listening. The poet trains to hear clearly and, as much as possible, without interruption, the voice of his or her mind, the voice that gathers, packs with meaning, and unpacks the language he or she knows. It can take a long time to learn to let this voice speak without getting in its way.
This slow learning, the growth of this habit of inner attentiveness, is poetic development, and it is the substance of the poet's art. Of course, this growth is rarely steady, never linear, and is sometimes not actually growth but diminishment - that's all part of the compelling story of a poet's way forward.
"Starred Review. Teicher's reasoning is sound, articulate, and accessible to readers of all poetic fluency levels, but also so original that even experts will find new ways of thinking about old favorites." - Publishers Weekly
This information about We Begin in Gladness was first featured
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Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Craig Morgan Teicher is an acclaimed poet and critic. He is the author of three books of poetry, including The Trembling Answers, and regularly writes reviews for the Los Angeles Times, NPR, and The New York Times Book Review. He lives in New Jersey.
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