Poems of the Decade: An Anthology of the Forward Books of Poetry

Product Information

It is easy enough to think of history as more-or-less the diligent assemblage of fact, a collective project aiming at the one true chronology of who we are and where we come from; this, of course, is a lie told by the victors, the reigning “WE” of so many middle-school text books who’ve always known that myth maps over power, and that the dominant story yields the dominant people. Robin Coste Lewis sees this lie and seeks to dismantle it with Voyage of the Sable Venus, her astonishing 2015 debut collection, the (perhaps) unlikely and (definitely) deserving winner of the National Book Award for Poetry. Use these questions to practice your essential analysis and comparison skills, either as a challenge for AS practice, or for the A Level exam. The very rigid form of the poem helps to represent the strict regime imposed by the feeder, and how it has become commonplace. There are a total of ten tercet stanzas, which adds to the overall regimented mood. In addition, there is assonance between the final words on the first and third lines of each stanza, such as “cake” and “weight”, with an alternative form of assonance in each line which breaks from the traditional idea of using rhyme. This is a very interesting rhyme scheme for a reader because it enables variety of language while still maintaining a sense of conformity and expectations, potentially echoing the expectations of the feeder. There are also consistent end-stopped lines on the final line of each stanza (although again with the exception of stanza six), which reinforce the idea of routine and consistency. However, there is also a slight break in this structure too with the final two lines of the last stanza both ending with full stops, which signifies the death of the man, and by extension, the relationship. This helps to make the poem more dramatic, and also bring a sense of unease to the reader through the way in which the expected pattern and rhythm has been disrupted. Poetic Techniques The adjective “sharp” is a distinctive choice which has connotations of precision and accuracy, but also of potential pain and suffering, perhaps highlighting the potential impacts of these transitions and passages. In addition, the idea of the stairwell and stairs could be interpreted as both a physical and mental transition of childhood to adolescence and adulthood.

In her gorgeous second collection, Mary Szybist blends traditional and experimental aesthetics to recast the myth of the Biblical Mary for this era. In vulnerable lyrics, surprising concrete poems, and other forms, and with extraordinary sympathy and a light touch of humor, Szybist probes the nuances of love, loss, and the struggle for religious faith in a world that seems to argue against it. This is a religious book for nonbelievers, or a book of necessary doubts for the faithful. urn:lcp:poemsofdecadeant0000unse:epub:5f78bbd1-a51f-4fde-86ed-62ee464d2275 Foldoutcount 0 Identifier poemsofdecadeant0000unse Identifier-ark ark:/13960/s2d8jngc63v Invoice 1652 Isbn 9780571325405 The ambition of Coste Lewis’s project is revealed in the precision of its limitations, as described in the first sentence of the prologue: Caroline Bird, Malika Booker, Mary Jean Chen, Tishani Doshi, Will Harris, Stephen Sexton, Danez Smith, Kae Tempest and more Identity: Concepts of personal identity are a key part of ‘An Easy Passage’ due to the idea of self-development and growing up, claiming an identity within the world. This is also a key aspect of many cultures view on the idea of a rite of passage.

Ocr tesseract 5.0.0-1-g862e Ocr_detected_lang en Ocr_detected_lang_conf 1.0000 Ocr_detected_script Latin Ocr_detected_script_conf 0.9740 Ocr_module_version 0.0.15 Ocr_parameters -l eng Old_pallet IA-NS-2000602 Openlibrary_edition By emphasising the “rush”, it is clear that any pleasure the woman receives is short lived, with all the focus being on the man and with her needs not fully catered for. The alliteration of “fast food” helps to show the importance of this line to the poem, and also shows how unhealthy this relationship is, both in terms of the physical food being eaten and the mental appreciation between the two. Some may also interpret the line as representing an unhealthy addiction, both to the food and to the relationship. Society and Culture: It can be interpreted that while the poem considers cultural ideas such as growing up and rites of passage, there are also broader criticisms of the concept of adulthood such as the ‘drab’ working worlds and the plans and dreams which constantly fail to come to fruition. Squares are uniform shapes which may be seen as jarring when compared against natural and fluid transitions and experiences being described in the poem. The use of “petrified” could have two interpretations, either literal petrification of natural forms into a stone like material, or the emotion felt by the beach (the gravel driveway) at seeing the young girl on the rooftop. Armaments” are military weapons and equipment, so describing a “flash” links to them being fired, bringing one of the only references to weaponry and violence to the poem. Notably this is at the end of the poem, which could be interpreted by some readers at signalling the potential for future conflict. ‘An Easy Passage’ Key Themes

Each section of the book takes place on a different frontier. In an interview with The Paris Review about the collection, Hong said, “To dream of the frontier is also to desire immortality. But there is no such thing as new territory. There are always previous civilizations, societies, families, and cultures. So when we build new worlds, there will be violence.” At a time when a new frontier feels like just another place for a billionaire to ruin, there’s something especially comforting in Hong’s naming this ruination. Bright Dead Things is organized into four untitled sections, the first of which opens with “How to Triumph Like a Girl,” which sets the tone for the collection to come—we will be in motion, we will wander, and we will not skirt genuine feeling in favor of irony. “I like the lady horses best, / how they make it all look easy, / like running 40 miles per hour / is as easy as taking a nap, or grass,” she writes. The speaker of the poem admits that she likes the horses mainly because they’re ladies, which means she might share something elemental with them. It means “that somewhere inside the delicate / skin of my body, there pumps / an 8-pound female horse heart.” This is a book that will not hesitate to talk about heart, to name that heart. transfers between the narrator, the robot, and to a certain extent the narrator’s wife. The narrator Transgression and Taboo: The idea of a ‘feeder’ role within a relationship is very much linked to sexual ideas, and that someone could have strong control over another person’s life. This isn’t talked about much within society and is typically avoided due to people’s discomfort with discussing things of this nature. There is also the idea of discussion of the female body, particularly in this rather grotesque way. CD Wright could be on this list for any number of books she wrote in the last decade—which is saying a lot, considering she died far too early, in 2016. Even her posthumous meditation on the beech tree, Casting Deep Shade, could probably survive aggressive cross-genre shoehorning from lyric nonfiction to poetry.* So with that sort of inter-disciplinary invention in mind, I offer you Wright’s 2011 National Book Award finalist, One With Others, a book-length poem that could also be described as… lyric documentary?MAIN BODY: disagree - the poets come to a point of disagreement in their portrayals of how - in poem A, - on the other hand, poet B adopts a more - yet the reader becomes increasingly aware Compare the ways in which personal development and experience are presented in ‘The Furthest Distances I’ve Travelled’ by Leonita Flynn and ‘An Easy Passage’ by Julia Copus The objectification in this line shows how much the man is using the woman for his pleasure, not for hers. The only focus is on what he wants and likes, without any regard for the woman. The repetition of “girls” can also be seen as patronising the woman, and can also be seen as showing her vulnerability by likening her more to a child than to an adult. The careful, meditative sentences that form Phillips’ poems give the impression of a speaker who is profoundly compassionate to themselves, one who gives themselves the space and time to articulate ambiguity without striving to resolve it, and who can recognize what is beautiful without clinging to it. In Wild is the Wind, questions about attachment and commitment unfold deliberately, and to read them is to listen, carefully, to meditations like this: As mentioned, the range of punctuation in ‘An Easy Passage’ is interesting because there are many hyphens, commas and semi colons used. This is to be expected for the longer sentences, as many of these examples could be seen as replacing full stops and full caesura so as to not break the continuous feel of the poem. Notably, there is the combination of both a full stop and a hyphen mid way through the poem at “on her thighs. – What can” which helps to add an extended and distinctive pause, further supporting the idea that the middle of the poem helps to act as a transition point in the narrative through the use of structure. Poetic Techniques

A selection of other books that we seriously considered for both lists—just to be extra about it (and because decisions are hard). This anthology of anthologies draws on the ten Forward Books of Poetry published to accompany the prizes between 2001 and 2010.

- to conclude, readers are prompted by both poets to consider/critique the _

The following books were chosen after much debate (and several rounds of voting) by the Literary Hub staff. Tears were spilled, feelings were hurt, books were re-read. And as you’ll shortly see, we had a hard time choosing just ten—so we’ve also included a list of dissenting opinions, and an even longer list of also-rans. How are transitions from different positions (crouching to standing, indoors to outdoors) used in an effective way? Arts, Humanities and Cultures • AQA A-level History: Britain 1851-1964: Challenge and Transformation Don’t Call Us Dead is a collection both universal and highly personal, as, I think, all the best poetry is. But it also feels both of our present time and timeless, both defined by and defining. – Jessie Gaynor, Social Media Editor Last year, in an interview with Krista Tippett of On Being, Tracy K. Smith described the act of writing poetry as perpetually, and necessarily, expansive:

The book is also artful, beautiful, sometimes funny, subtle when subtlety is required, razor sharp when that better suits her needs. It investigates memory and identity and the nature of narrative and self-doubt and self-expression. I don’t know anyone who has read it who was not profoundly moved by it. As Dan Chiasson put it in The New Yorker, “The realization at the end of this book sits heavily upon the heart: ‘This is how you are a citizen,’ Rankine writes. ‘Come on. Let it go. Move on.’ As Rankine’s brilliant, disabusing work, always aware of its ironies, reminds us, ‘moving on’ is not synonymous with ‘leaving behind.’” – Emily Temple, Senior Editor Poems of the Decade brings together more than one hundred poems from the many thousands submitted to the Forward Prizes for Poetry in the first decade of the 21st century. I will say that this list was the hardest we’ve done so far—poetry is extremely subjective, and true consensus was rare (except for Claudia Rankine, for whom almost everyone in the office voted). And NB that for this one, we excluded huge “collected poems” for range. So please feel extra free to add any of your own favorites that we’ve missed in the comments below. The Forwards are among the world’s most coveted poetry honours. They are awarded annually for the Best Collection, Best First Collection and Best Single Poem published in Britain and Ireland and are recognised for bringing together familiar names and exciting new talent. Even more interesting is the use of consonance on each corresponding line, for example the first line of each stanza has the “k” sound, “d” on the second and “t” on the third. The only point in which this is broken in the poem is at the end of stanza six, but even this is largely negated by the fact that the next word is “too” so therefore continues the overall consonance. These strong sounds once again evoke ideas of force and control, showing how important this is to the poem.In this module, we read through Tim Turnbull’s ‘Ode on a Grayson Perry Urn’, focusing in particular on: (i) the concept of ecphrasis, a verbal description of a work of art, and two works of art to which this poem is responding – Grayson Perry’s ‘Language of Cars’ (1999) and John Keats’ ‘Ode on a Grecian Urn’ (1820); (ii) the timelessness of the characters on the urn – and of poetry itself. The Forwards are among the world’s most coveted poetry honours. They have been awarded annually since 1992 for the Best Collection, Best First Collection and Best Single Poem published in Britain and Ireland, and the roster of winning, shortlisted and highly commended poets regularly juxtaposes familiar canonical names with fresh voices. How effective is Agbabi’s use of imagery, specifically in relation to the way in which size and scale are described? Consider the impact on a reader.