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Open Books: Events
April 10, 2009 07:30 PM
JOHN FELSTINER
“Poems make a difference by priming the consciousness,” writes John Felstiner in Can Poetry Save the Earth?: A Field Guide to Nature Poems ($35 Yale), an erudite study of nature poetry and poets. A professor of English at Stanford and a well-regarded translator of Neruda and Celan, here he offers close readings of poems ranging from an Apache myth and the Old Testament creation story to the work of Gary Snyder. His proposition is not that poetry will effect change itself -- “’Poetry’ and ‘policy’ make an awkward half-rhyme at best” -- but that “by sleight of mind, our words make nature distinct.” The short essays focus on the writings of, among others, Anonymous, Whitman, Dickinson, Stevens, Moore, Millay, Ammons, Kenyon, and the aforementioned Snyder. This intelligent and compassionate collection gives pleasure and stirs mind; this evening will please and educate and prime the consciousness.
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