Carve Poetry into Your Psyche


Book Description

Sylva's Fifteen Poetry Collections [more than 1000' pages of verse, during less than seven-year period] The author is a pediatrician and has published medical articles in well-known journals.




The Literary Mind and the Carving of Dragons


Book Description

The Literary Mind and the Carving of Dragons is the first comprehensive work of literary criticism in Chinese, and one that has been considered essential reading for writers and scholars since it was written some 1,500 years ago. A vast compendium of all that was known about Chinese literature at the time, it is simultaneously a taxonomy and history of genres and styles and a manual for good writing. Its chapters, organized according to the I Ching, cover such topics as “Choice of Style,” “Emotion and Literary Expression,” “Humor and Enigma,” “Spiritual Thought or Imagination,” “The Nourishing of Vitality,” and “Literary Flaws.” “Mind” is the ideas, impressions, and emotions that take form—the “carving of the dragon”—in a literary work. Full of examples and delightful anecdotes drawn from Liu Hsieh’s encyclopedic knowledge of Chinese literature, readers will discover distinctive concepts and standards of the art of writing that are both alien and familiar. The Literary Mind and the Carving of Dragons is not only a summa of classical Chinese literary aesthetics but also a wellspring of advice from the distant past on how to write.




A Russian Psyche


Book Description

Russian poet Marina Tsvetaeva’s powerful poetic voice and her tragic life have often prompted literary commentators to treat her as either a martyr or a monster. Born in Russia in 1892, she emigrated to Europe in 1922, returned to the Soviet Union at the height of the Stalinist Terror, and committed suicide in 1941. Alyssa Dinega focuses on the poetry, rediscovering Tsvetaeva as a serious thinker with a coherent artistic and philosophical vision.




A Comprehensive Study of Tang Poetry


Book Description

Tang poetry is one of the most valuable cultural inheritances of Chinese history. Its distinctive aesthetics, delicate language and diverse styles constitute great literature in itself, as well as a rich topic for literary study. This two-volume set is the masterpiece of Professor Lin Geng, one of China’s most respected literary historians, and reflects decades of active research into Tang poetry, covering the “Golden Age” of Chinese poetry (618–907 CE). In the first volume, the author provides a general understanding of poetry in the “High Tang” era from a range of perspectives. Starting with an indepth discussion of the Romantic tradition and historical context, the author focuses on poetic language patterns, Youth Spirit, maturity symbols, and prototypes of poetry. The author demonstrates that the most valuable part of Tang poetry is how it can provide people with a new perspective on every aspect of life. The second volume focuses on the prominent Tang poets and poems. Beginning with an introduction to the “four greatest poets”—Li Bai, Du Fu, Wang Wei, and Bai Juyi—the author discusses their subjects, language, influence, and key works. The volume also includes essays on a dozen masterpieces of Tang poetry, categorized by topics such as love and friendship, aspirationsand seclusion, as well as travelling and nostalgia. As the author stresses, Tang poetry is worth rereading because it makes us invigorate our mental wellbeing, leaving it powerful and full of vitality. This book will appeal to researchers and students of Chinese literature, especially of classical Chinese poetry. People interested in Chinese culture will also benefit from the book.




Picturing Mind


Book Description

In this book the author takes an unusual multi-disciplinary approach to debates about contemporary art and poetry, ideas about the mind and its representations, and theories of knowledge and being. Arts practices are considered as enactments of mind and as transformative modes of consciousness. Ideas drawn from poetics, philosophy and consciousness studies are used to illuminate the conceptual and aesthetic frameworks of a diverse array of visual artists. Themes explored include: the interconnectedness of existence; art as a way of interrogating appearances; identity and otherness; art and the self as 'open work'; Buddhist concepts of 'emptiness' and 'suchness'; scepticism, mysticism and the arts; and mind in the landscape. The book contains an important and distinctive visual dimension with photographs and drawings by the author and texts employing unorthodox syntax and layouts that exemplify the themes under discussion. The author hints at a new aesthetics and philosophy of indeterminacy, paradox, uncertainty and discontinuity - a contrarium - in which we negotiate our way through the instabilities and contradictions of contemporary life. Written in a lively and accessible style this volume is of interest to scholars, arts practitioners, teachers and to anyone with an interest in art, poetry, consciousness studies, philosophy and nature. Artists, poets and philosophers discussed, include: Cy Twombly, Helen Chadwick, John Ruskin, Ad Reinhardt, Richard Long, James Turrell, Anish Kapoor, Ian Hamilton Finlay, Agnes Martin, Land Art, Arte Povera, Minimalism, Charles Olson, Kenneth White, Robin Blaser, Fred Wah, Gary Snyder, RS Thomas, Alice Oswald, John Cage, Jorge Luis Borges, Guy Davenport, Kenneth Rexroth, Heidegger, Marjorie Perloff, Thomas McEvilley, Merleau-Ponty, Spinoza, Wittgenstein, Roland Barthes, Umberto Eco, David Abram, Thomas Merton, Pyrrho & Nagarjuna.




It's Only the Enemy Screaming


Book Description

It's Only the Enemy Screaming tells of one man's struggle with faith in the American experiment as the country's first made-for-media war unfolds. Perhaps I would be called upon to fight, I thought. I did not want to go. I did not want to sacrifice my life. I felt remorse for the boys who had already. What would be my family's reaction if I were to go and die? But these are not things to consider if you are in the desert with sand slipping away under your feet, cleaning your gun, smelling the oil, staring in the face of your enemy. The preparations of a warrior do not include doubt. They do not include consideration of the life left behind. The preparations of a warrior consist of absolute commitment, undaunted determination, and complete sobriety. All other considerations are made before the decision to go to war. If they are not, the warrior is doomed. "It's Only the Enemy Screaming is the emotionally intense story of one man's descent into the psychological underbelly of American culture during the Persian Gulf War. Given our current political climate, McEnroe's edgy narrative of a spectator's view during the first Iraq conflict couldn't be timelier-but his ultimate focus transcends the political moment. It is a riveting, occasionally hallucinogenic, and always intelligent portrait of America's love affair with violence."-Michael Lynch, author of True to Life




Robert Browning: Selected Poems


Book Description

Robert Browning (1812 – 1889) was one of the defining figures of the Victorian age. Famous in his lifetime for his elopement and marriage to Elizabeth Barratt, his critical reputation grew steadily in the years following her early death. Browning’s mastery of dramatic verse was evident throughout his career, from such chillingly unforgettable monologues as ‘My Last Duchess’ and ‘Porphyria’ to the mature work included in his collection Dramatis Personae. This selection, chosen by leading scholars, reveals the innovation, complexity and profound psychological insight that have ensured Browning’s enduring reputation and his continuing appeal to readers today. Browning: Selected Poems results from a completely fresh appraisal of the canon, text and context of the writer’s work. The poems are presented in the order of their composition and in the text in which they were first published, giving a unique insight into the development of Browning’s art. An introduction and chronology offer useful background material, whilst annotations and headnotes provide details of composition, publication, sources and contemporary reception. This authoritative yet accessible selection should become the first point of reference for scholar, student and general reader alike.




Poetry as Survival


Book Description

Intended for general readers and for students and scholars of poetry, Poetry as Survival is a complex and lucid analysis of the powerful role poetry can play in confronting, surviving, and transcending pain and suffering. Gregory Orr draws from a generous array of sources. He weaves discussions of work by Keats, Dickinson, and Whitman with quotes from three-thousand-year-old Egyptian poems, Inuit songs, and Japanese love poems to show that writing personal lyric has helped poets throughout history to process emotional and experiential turmoil, from individual stress to collective grief. More specifically, he considers how the acts of writing, reading, and listening to lyric bring ordering powers to the chaos that surrounds us. Moving into more contemporary work, Orr looks at the poetry of Sylvia Plath, Stanley Kunitz, and Theodore Roethke, poets who relied on their own work to get through painful psychological experiences. As a poet who has experienced considerable trauma--especially as a child--Orr refers to the damaging experiences of his past and to the role poetry played in his ability to recover and survive. His personal narrative makes all the more poignant and vivid Orr's claims for lyric poetry's power as a tool for healing. Poetry as Survival is a memorable and inspiring introduction to lyric poetry's capacity to help us find safety and comfort in a threatening world.