It is not the formalism that is of chief interest here--Gioia's prosody, while competent, can be a bit stiff and tidy--but the way some of these poems break out of bland formula into beauty.
He rose and set every day, and is often associated with
I read it in a single sitting while still in bed early one morning and found myself intermittently in tears. Read 2 reviews from the world's largest community for readers.
If you haven't experienced his writing - ...
This personal background reappears in "Planting a Sequoia," about planting a tree as a memorial for a lost child. "Counting the Children" also deals with the love and fear of a parent anxiously wondering if he can adequately protect his child. The longest poem, "The Homecoming," offers a first-person narrative by a man recounting how he became a murderer. Deities of the Winter Solstice Alcyone (Greek) Ameratasu (Japan) Baldur (Norse) Bona Dea (Roman) Cailleach Bheur (Celtic) Demeter (Greek) Dionysus (Greek) Frau Holle (Norse) Frigga (Norse) Hodr (Norse) Holly King (British/Celtic) Horus (Egyptian) La Befana (Italian) Lord of Misrule …
This character from Italian folklore is similar to St. Nicholas, in that she flies around delivering candy to well-behaved children in early January. She is depicted as an old woman on a broomstick, wearing a black shawl.
The poems in this first section are about loss, even "Planting a Sequoia" which is also about life.
At first appearance, they dazzle--aloof, pure, silent. A festival called Brumalia was held every December in honor of
The loss of a child permeates this second volume of poems from "a leader of the neo-formalist school of poetry," as Gioia is dubbed by his publisher.
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It is a wonderful collection of Dana Gioia's poetry. Two long Frostean narratives are well done yet conventional; of least interest is "My Confessional Sestina," which begins: "Let me confess. Yet he merely asserts his own priority by mimicking the form and the practitioners he purports to disavow.
he has already established himself as a poet with a permanent place in the canon of American poetry." The Anemoi are minor gods and are subject to the god Aeolus.
Dana Gioia is poet laureate of California and served three terms as chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts. Interrogations at Noon: Poems I was deeply moved. There was an error retrieving your Wish Lists. One of my all-time favorite poets.
Gioia is a wonderful poet. The poems in Section III are poems more about place rather than the loss of sections I & II.
"All Souls'", "The Gods of Winter", and "Planting a Sequoia" are here.
Anyone who really wants to know the answer to the question, 'Can poetry matter?'
The Gods of Winter was an exclusive-to-audio story from BBC Audio featuring the Twelfth Doctor. A true statement, but one that misses the point entirely.
It seems ironic that Gioia mars his collection with several self-promotional poems.
Your recently viewed items and featured recommendations Please try your request again later.This shopping feature will continue to load items when the Enter key is pressed. The book is divided into five sections.
"Counting the Children" concerns an accountant who, charged with settling an estate, discovers in the deceased's house a roomful of dismembered dolls. I subsequently have learned he is from my neck of the woods and I look forward to making his acquaintance soon. The Holly King is a figure found in British tales and folklore. he has already established himself as a poet with a permanent place in the canon of American poetry.” ―"In his best poems, Gioia rises to the occasion of all great poetry: to immortalize our experience by submitting it to the tests of tradition and inspiration. Through catastrophe or a gradual melting away, change buries all things human and divine, and memory resurrects them only briefly. This legend may have combined with that of St. Nicholas to create the modern
He likes to write long poems as well as the familiar one pagers, and they are engrossing enough to carry you through to the end before you realize how many pages you've read for one poem. Interrogations at Noon: Poems One of my all-time favorite poets.
This collection reveals the depths of his pain over the death of his son, somehow transmuted into beauty. Through her daughter, Persephone, Demeter is linked strongly to the changing of the seasons and is often connected to the image of the Others reflect on the precarious state of poetry itself ("The Silence of the Poets," "My Confessional Sestina"), or show a whimsical sense of humor that reminds me of Billy Collins.
At first appearance, they dazzle--aloof, pure, silent.
Their glory is ephemeral. You're listening to a sample of the Audible audio edition.Something went wrong. Please try again. Soyal is the Hopi festival of the winter solstice.