On Whitman (Writers on Writers, 8) - Softcover

Williams, C. K.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0691176108 ISBN 13: 9780691176109

Publisher: Princeton University Press, 2017

Synopsis

In this book, Pulitzer Prize–winning poet C. K. Williams sets aside the mass of biography and literary criticism that has accumulated around Walt Whitman and attempts to go back to Leaves of Grass as he first encountered it―to explore why Whitman's epic "continues to inspire and sometimes daunt" him. The result is a personal reassessment and appreciation of one master poet by another, as well as an unconventional and brilliant introduction to Whitman. Beautifully written and rich with insight, this is a book that refreshes our ability to see Whitman in all his power.

About this title

From the Back Cover:

"This is the exuberant, true book of a poet, of two poets: a personal, illuminating, and beautiful demonstration of the truest reading."--Robert Pinsky

"C. K. Williams captures Whitman with the impassioned erudition and discernment that only a master poet can deploy. Yet what's perhaps most remarkable is how it feels as if Williams has somehow captured our 'private' Whitman as well, the Whitman who has vivified every American writer and reader after him. Through Williams's electric, intimate encounter with the work and life of the 'lovely old man,' we feel that we are poetically partaking of Whitman's genius and soul in this inspiring, enlivening, and unexpectedly moving volume."--Chang-rae Lee, author of Native Speaker

"Respondez! Respondez! is what Walt Whitman demands of his readers, and C. K. Williams has responded indeed. With a poet's own astonishment and delight, imagining what it must have been like for Whitman to experience out of the blue the 'stupendous, relentless surge of poetic music' that made Leaves of Grass possible, Williams deals happily with Whitman's hugeness and his intimacy, his sexuality and his metaphysics, his equal celebrations of life and death, and his gigantic role in our literary history--but above all with 'the sheer, ever amazing power of the poems themselves.' On Whitman is a book written with infectious joy, and will bring joy to its readers."--Alicia Ostriker, author of Dancing at the Devil's Party: Essays on Poetry, Politics, and the Erotic

"C. K. Williams is widely regarded as one of our most Whitmanesque poets. Now he offers his reflections on a lifetime of reading his great predecessor. On Whitman is elegant, witty, and unfailingly illuminating. It seems certain to become one of the handful of essential books about Whitman."--Michael Robertson, author of Worshipping Walt: The Whitman Disciples

About the Author:

C. K. Williams (1936–2015) won the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, the National Book Critics Circle Award, and the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize. He taught creative writing and translation at Princeton University.

About this edition

• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Publication date: 2017
• ISBN 10: 0691176108
• ISBN 13: 9780691176109
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 208