Poetry Books
Glare
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Manufacturer: W. W. Norton & Company
Author: A. R. Ammons
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Average Customer Rating:
Our Price: $15.00
You Save: $ ( % )
Usually ships in 7 to 12 days
Manufacturer: W. W. Norton & Company
Author: A. R. Ammons
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Average Customer Rating:
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Glare Description
Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 811
EAN: 9780393317794
ISBN: 039331779X
Label: W. W. Norton & Company
Manufacturer: W. W. Norton & Company
Number Of Items: 1
Book Pages: 294
Publication Date: 1998-07
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Studio: W. W. Norton & Company
Dewey Decimal Number: 811
EAN: 9780393317794
ISBN: 039331779X
Label: W. W. Norton & Company
Manufacturer: W. W. Norton & Company
Number Of Items: 1
Book Pages: 294
Publication Date: 1998-07
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Studio: W. W. Norton & Company
Editorial Review of Glare
Harold Bloom, one of this country's most respected literary critics, has this to say: "No contemporary poet, in America, is likelier to become a classic than A. R. Ammons." With Glare, Ammons once again has proven himself a master of the long poem, the short line, and a deep and sympathetic humor in the face of life's absurdities. Ammons wants you to understand that your life, and the lives of those you love, would mean nothing to any of the sizable meteors that could crash into the earth at any time, killing us all, but he doesn't stop there. The cosmic game is stunningly vast, he writes, and, after all "it is / nice to be included, especially from / so minor a pew: please turn, in yr / hymnals, to page 'archie carrying on / again' ..." Ammons is a great poet not content to rest on his laurels.
Customer Reviews of Glare
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: idiosyncratic brilliance
Review: Here this master of the book-length poem constructs a long poem different from other long poems of his, at the height of his command over poetics. This is a book of thoughts; he prefers the word in a conceptual space over the word as image. He also has a crazy sense of humor. Sections of this long poem are sectioned into very small units, & the form of 2-line stanzas is almost (but not quite) constanr throughout the book. The poems move as you would imagine the sphere on the cover would roll -- with a steady, hard arcing sound. I don't know this for sure yet, but I have a feeling Ammons liked associating his poetry with spheres so much because spheres are the shapes with the greatest surface area to volume ratio, & his words are just as voluminous in their terseness. In other news, his poetry in this book is its own very exciting avant-garde. Until his death on 25 Feb, 2001, more & more throughout his life, he was always creating wholly new spaces for poetry to move through. This his last book keeps moving.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: climax of genius
Review: The writing in this book all bears Ammons's mark of experimental, architectonic genius. He writes with severe intellect & a kooky sense of humor. He tends to prefer abstract thinking to emotion or physical objects or location. Gripping read.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Spectacular vistas (democratic visas)
Review: Ammons was a master of the concise lyric, the witty aphorism, and the unusual nature narrative: a dialogue between a man and a mountain, for example. But he shines in his long poems, his book-length poems, of which "Glare" is the final example. The poem enacts the workings of an expansive supple probing ever-restless mind as it turns over all that comes at it centripetally as if it occupied the center of the universe. In a sense he did that as well as any American poet since Robert Frost. That is one measure of his greatness. There are others in the glare of mourning.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Squinting at brilliance
Review: Incredibly it's really difficult to find A. R. Ammons poetry in bookshops in the UK. As far as I know his work isn't actually published here & so enthusiasts have to rely on specialist shops or on ordering his books (from internet bookstores or elsewhere). I first came across his worksevseral years ago in an anthology of American verse - & I've been hooked ever since. 'Glare' is a spectacular display of Ammon's deceptively easy-looking conversational style. Confident, funny, disarmingly direct, it touches on the wonderful & terrible business of living & growing old. The language is razor edged & playfully fuzzy - in exactly the right places & amounts. The long poem (of which 'Glare' is a very special example) has tripped-up many a gifted poet, but this has the sustained brilliance of someone competely at home with the form, someone who knows how to set poetic pace & rhythm to fit the task in hand. On a more commonplace note, it's a very engaging read. A book you can dip in & out of or settle down with. A book full of sparkiling wit, occasional glittering nuggets of wisdom, old-geezerish grumbling, rambling, ranting & poetry that will 'lift the top of your head off' as someone once said. He should be in the shops here. U.K. publishers please note.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Can't rate this book
Review: There are more insights into language and life on any given page of this book than any poet has pulled off since, maybe, Auden. And I like Archie better than Auden. I agree with Harold Bloom: this poem is probably immortal.
Review Summary: idiosyncratic brilliance
Review: Here this master of the book-length poem constructs a long poem different from other long poems of his, at the height of his command over poetics. This is a book of thoughts; he prefers the word in a conceptual space over the word as image. He also has a crazy sense of humor. Sections of this long poem are sectioned into very small units, & the form of 2-line stanzas is almost (but not quite) constanr throughout the book. The poems move as you would imagine the sphere on the cover would roll -- with a steady, hard arcing sound. I don't know this for sure yet, but I have a feeling Ammons liked associating his poetry with spheres so much because spheres are the shapes with the greatest surface area to volume ratio, & his words are just as voluminous in their terseness. In other news, his poetry in this book is its own very exciting avant-garde. Until his death on 25 Feb, 2001, more & more throughout his life, he was always creating wholly new spaces for poetry to move through. This his last book keeps moving.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: climax of genius
Review: The writing in this book all bears Ammons's mark of experimental, architectonic genius. He writes with severe intellect & a kooky sense of humor. He tends to prefer abstract thinking to emotion or physical objects or location. Gripping read.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Spectacular vistas (democratic visas)
Review: Ammons was a master of the concise lyric, the witty aphorism, and the unusual nature narrative: a dialogue between a man and a mountain, for example. But he shines in his long poems, his book-length poems, of which "Glare" is the final example. The poem enacts the workings of an expansive supple probing ever-restless mind as it turns over all that comes at it centripetally as if it occupied the center of the universe. In a sense he did that as well as any American poet since Robert Frost. That is one measure of his greatness. There are others in the glare of mourning.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Squinting at brilliance
Review: Incredibly it's really difficult to find A. R. Ammons poetry in bookshops in the UK. As far as I know his work isn't actually published here & so enthusiasts have to rely on specialist shops or on ordering his books (from internet bookstores or elsewhere). I first came across his worksevseral years ago in an anthology of American verse - & I've been hooked ever since. 'Glare' is a spectacular display of Ammon's deceptively easy-looking conversational style. Confident, funny, disarmingly direct, it touches on the wonderful & terrible business of living & growing old. The language is razor edged & playfully fuzzy - in exactly the right places & amounts. The long poem (of which 'Glare' is a very special example) has tripped-up many a gifted poet, but this has the sustained brilliance of someone competely at home with the form, someone who knows how to set poetic pace & rhythm to fit the task in hand. On a more commonplace note, it's a very engaging read. A book you can dip in & out of or settle down with. A book full of sparkiling wit, occasional glittering nuggets of wisdom, old-geezerish grumbling, rambling, ranting & poetry that will 'lift the top of your head off' as someone once said. He should be in the shops here. U.K. publishers please note.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Can't rate this book
Review: There are more insights into language and life on any given page of this book than any poet has pulled off since, maybe, Auden. And I like Archie better than Auden. I agree with Harold Bloom: this poem is probably immortal.