Two Citizens

by James Wright, Anne Wright (Editor)

"Poems powerful in their honesty, emotion and craft. The heart-clenching directness of the emotion is seldom found in recent American poetry."-- Small Press

Genres: Poetry

48 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1973

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name.

On December 13, 1927, James Arlington Wright was born in Martins Ferry, Ohio. His father worked for fifty years at a glass factory, and his mother left school at fourteen to work in a laundry; neither attended school beyond the eighth grade. While in high school in 1943 Wright suffered a nervous breakdown and missed a year of school. When he graduated in 1946, a year late, he joined the army and was stationed in Japan during the American occupation. He then attended Kenyon College on the G.I. Bill, and studied under John Crowe Ransom. He graduated cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa in 1952, then married another Martins Ferry native, Liberty Kardules. The two traveled to Austria, where, on a Fulbright Fellowship, Wright studied the works of Theodor Storm and Georg Trakl at the University of Vienna. He returned to the U.S. and earned master's and doctoral degrees at the University of Washington, studying with Theodore Roethke and Stanley Kunitz. He went on to teach at The University of Minnesota, Macalester College, and New York City's Hunter College.

Reviews

[Bill Kerwin · Rating 3 out of 5]

When I read Two Citizens (1973) years ago, I thought that it represented a decline from Wright’s best work, that the poetry here, though occasionally stark and effective, lacked the glorious imagery and expert craftsmanship present in every line of The Branch Will Not Break (1963) and Shall We Gather at the River (1968). I decided to read it again, hoping I was wrong. Turns out I was right.

I’m glad I re-read it though. There are brutal, deeply personal poems here about Wright’s Ohio childhood, and moving songs in praise of his wife Annie, as they—“two citizens” of the United States—travel together through Europe. Wright feels his love for America more intensely when, filled with a new love, he leaves it, and this fact makes the contrast between the two kinds of poems here richer, and more intense.

Still, the poems here are just not up to his earlier work. It would have been easy for me to pluck a few short poems or stand-alone passages out of his earlier books and astonish you, but faced with this particular collection I find it difficult to do. The best poem in the book, I think, is the five-page sequence which begins it, “Ars Poetica: Some Recent Criticism.” Because of its length, though, I will choose instead another poem I like almost as much

THE OLD DOG IN THE RUINS
OF THE GRAVES AT ARLES

I have heard tell somewhere,
Or read, I forget which,
That animals tumble along in a forever,
A little dream, a quick longing
For every fine haunch that passes,
As the young bitches glitter in their own light.

I find their freedom from lonely wisdom
Hard to believe.
No matter the brief skull fails to contain,
the old bones know something.

Almost indistinguishable from the dust,
They seek shadow, they limp among the tombs.
One stray mutt, long since out of patience,
Rises up, as the sunlight happens to strike,
And snaps at his right foreleg.

When the hurrying shadow returns
He lies down in peace again,
Between the still perfectly formed sarcophagi
that have been empty of romans or anybody
Longer than anybody remembers.
Graves last longer than men. Nobody can tell me
The old dogs don’t know.

[Wayne · Rating 4 out of 5]

James Wright’s poetry is consistently interesting, heart-felt, open, and honest. Reading through his published works, it seems som collections are more accessible than others. This one was a little uneven.

[Dan Sendker · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent enough, but I don't think Wright will ever get as good as "The Branch Will Not Break," at least for me. The poems "Ohio Valley Swains" and "October Ghosts" alone raised this book a full star. James Wright was amazing at one-liners.

[Steven Severance · Rating 5 out of 5]

WHen this book came out many thought it was a step down for James Wright.
But there are some great poems here!
The critics do not understand that poets must explore and take risks if they want to expand how we see the world. If a poet wants to create their own visions and worlds repetion of their old discovered tricks is death.

Yes "the Branch will not Break" is my favorite of his books, but full cheers for the daring and sucesses of this book too.

After this book's shelacking Wright never again risked as much .
Saddly The critics and the cancer won.

We should weep.

[Mills College Library]

811.54 W9512t 1973