James Longenbach Books

In lucid, elegant poems, Forever contemplates love against the pressing question of mortality after a diagnosis of cancer

Focusing on the philosophical concept of history, this book delves into the collected and uncollected writings of T. S. Eliot and Ezra Pound. James Longenbach explores their interpretations of history through critical prose and poetry, revealing their unique strategies for understanding historical context. The analysis highlights how both poets engage with historical themes, providing insights into their literary contributions and the broader implications of their work on the understanding of history.

The Art Of series is a new line of books reinvigorating the practice of craft and criticism. Each book will be a brief, witty, and useful exploration of fiction, nonfiction, or poetry by a writer impassioned by a singular craft issue. The Art Of volumes will provide a series of sustained examinations of key but sometimes neglected aspects of creative writing by some of contemporary literature's finest practioners. "Poetry is the sound of language organized in lines." James Longenbach opens this provocative book with that essential statement. Through a range of examples—from Shakespeare and Milton to Ashbery and Glück—Longenbach describes the function of line in metered, rhymed, syllabic, and free-verse poetry. The Art of the Poetic Line is a vital new resource by one of America's most important critics and most engaging poets.

For more than a century, American poets have heeded the siren song of Ezra Pound’s make it new, staking a claim for the next poem on the supposed obsolescence of the last. But great poems are forever rehearsing their own present, inviting readers into a nowness that makes itself new each time we read or reread them. They create the present moment as we enter it, their language relying on the long history of lyric poetry while at the same time creating a feeling of unprecedented experience. ​In poet and critic James Longenbach’s title, the word “now” does double duty, evoking both a lyric sense of the present and twentieth-century writers’ assertion of “nowness” as they crafted their poetry in the wake of Modernism. Longenbach examines the fruitfulness of poetic repetition and indecision, of naming and renaming, and of the evolving search for newness in the construction, history, and life of lyrics. Looking to the work of thirteen poets, from Marianne Moore and T. S. Eliot through George Oppen and Jorie Graham to Carl Phillips and Sally Keith, and several musicians, including Virgil Thomson and Patti Smith, he shows how immediacy is constructed through language. Longenbach also considers the life and times of these poets, taking a close look at the syntax and diction of poetry, and offers an original look at the nowness of lyrics.

With remarkable courage and clarity, the poet explores themes of mortality and reflection in his final poems. The collection begins with a striking sequence that offers a bird's-eye view of life, capturing the essence of looking back as one prepares to journey into the unknown. Through myth and memory, Longenbach addresses the complexities of love and loss, creating a powerful symmetry among this volume and his previous works, Forever and Earthling. Together, they delve into the ordinary and extraordinary moments that define human experience.

A comprehensive guide to writing or reading poetry, by one of our most lucid and important critics (American Academy of Arts and Letters).

Earthling confronts our deepest fears in clear and haunting language, from a poet of extraordinary gifts (American Academy of Arts and Letters).

Visual exploration of the inspiration and ideas behind more than 40 of Bonnae Gokson's cake creations.