The Way It Is: New and Selected Poems Hardcover - 1998
by William Stafford
William Stafford (1914-1993) is widely recognized as one of the most important poets of this century. This first definitive Stafford collection contains old favorites along with several never-before-published works--including one the poet wrote the day he died. These poems show us the depth and scope of a poet for whom the art was to make a life worth living.
From the rear cover
So, the world happens twice--
once what we see it as;
second it legends itself
deep, the way it is. William Stafford filled his life and ours with poetry of challenge and consolation. The Way It Is gathers unpublished poems from his last year, including the poem he wrote the day he died, as well as an essential selection of works from throughout his career. An editorial team including his son Kim Stafford, Naomi Shihab Nye, and Robert Bly collaborated on shaping this book of Stafford's life in poetry. The poems in The Way It Is encompass Stafford's rugged domesticity, the political edge of his irony, and his brave starings off into emptiness. What emerges here is Stafford's faith in language and the soul, those things that form the base for his artistic gyroscope. This collection reveals the depth and breadth of a poet for whom the art was to make a life richly lived. Born in Hutchinson, Kansas, in 1914, William Stafford was one of our most prolific and celebrated poets. He was a witness for peace, and for honesty, recognizing in his writing that justice will take us millions of intricate moves. Author of over fifty books, and recipient of the National Book Award for Traveling through the Dark, Stafford was a professor at Lewis & Clark College, and a traveling teacher throughout the world. As a conscientious objector during World War II, he began his unswerving habit of writing before dawn each day, and his habitual generosity to other writers and readers. After serving as consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress in 1970, he was named Oregon's Poet Laureate in 1975. He died at his home in Oregon in 1993.
From the jacket flap
So, the world happens twice--
once what we see it as;
second it legends itself
deep, the way it is. William Stafford filled his life and ours with poetry of challenge and consolation. The Way It Is gathers unpublished poems from his last year, including the poem he wrote the day he died, as well as an essential selection of works from throughout his career. An editorial team including his son Kim Stafford, Naomi Shihab Nye, and Robert Bly collaborated on shaping this book of Stafford's life in poetry. The poems in The Way It Is encompass Stafford's rugged domesticity, the political edge of his irony, and his brave starings off into emptiness. What emerges here is Stafford's faith in language and the soul, those things that form the base for his artistic gyroscope. This collection reveals the depth and breadth of a poet for whom the art was to make a life richly lived. Born in Hutchinson, Kansas, in 1914, William Stafford was one of our most prolific and celebrated poets. He was a witness for peace, and for honesty, recognizing in his writing that justice will take us millions of intricate moves. Author of over fifty books, and recipient of the National Book Award for Traveling through the Dark, Stafford was a professor at Lewis & Clark College, and a traveling teacher throughout the world. As a conscientious objector during World War II, he began his unswerving habit of writing before dawn each day, and his habitual generosity to other writers and readers. After serving as consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress in 1970, he was named Oregon's Poet Laureate in 1975. He died at his home in Oregon in 1993.
Details
- Title The Way It Is: New and Selected Poems
- Author William Stafford
- Binding Hardcover
- Edition First Edition
- Pages 296
- Volumes 1
- Language ENG
- Publisher Graywolf Press, St Paul, Minnesota, U.S.A.
- Date 1998-02
- ISBN 9781555972691 / 1555972691
- Weight 1.28 lbs (0.58 kg)
- Dimensions 9.26 x 6.37 x 1.08 in (23.52 x 16.18 x 2.74 cm)
- Reading level 950
- Library of Congress Catalog Number 97080082
- Dewey Decimal Code 811.54
Media reviews
Citations
- Library Journal, 04/01/1999, Page 96
- Publishers Weekly, 02/23/1998, Page 68
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