Synopses & Reviews
The lyric poems of In Beauty Bright, although marked by the same passion and swiftness as Gerald Stern’s previous work, move into an area of knowledge—even wisdom—that reflects a long life of writing, teaching, and activism. They are poems of grief and anger, but the music is delicate and moving.
from “In Beauty Bright”
In beauty-bright and such it was like Blake’s
lily and though an angel he looked absurd
dragging a lily out of a beauty-bright store
wrapped in tissue with a petal drooping,
nor was it useless—you who know it know
how useful it is—and how he would be dead
in a minute if he were to lose it though
how do you lose a lily?
Review
"[Stern's] style insinuates itself into your consciousness like a catchy tune, so that you find your thoughts echoing its rhythms, bopping from one to another, back and forth, like thought and language doing a jitterbug." Frank Wilson
Synopsis
"Gerald Stern is the most expansively celebratory poet in years. He is akin to a natural force."--
Synopsis
from In Beauty Bright In beauty-bright and such it was like Blake lily and though an angel he looked absur dragging a lily out of a beauty-bright stor wrapped in tissue with a petal drooping nor was it useless you who know it kno how useful it is and how he would be dea in a minute if he were to lose it thoug how do you lose a lily"
Synopsis
from "In Beauty Bright"
In beauty-bright and such it was like Blake's
lily and though an angel he looked absurd
dragging a lily out of a beauty-bright store
wrapped in tissue with a petal drooping,
nor was it useless--you who know it know
how useful it is--and how he would be dead
in a minute if he were to lose it though
how do you lose a lily?
Synopsis
The lyric poems of , although marked by the same passion and swiftness as Gerald Stern's previous work, move into an area of knowledge--even wisdom--that reflects a long life of writing, teaching, and activism. They are poems of grief and anger, but the music is delicate and moving.
About the Author
Gerald Stern is the author of the National Book Award-winning This Time, the Rebekah Johnson Bobbitt National Prize-winning Early Selected Poems, and other books. He has also been awarded the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize, the National Jewish Book Award, and the Wallace Stevens Award, among many other honors. He lives in Lambertville, New Jersey.