ILL LIT: Selected & New Poems

by Franz Wright

Franz Wright was recognized as one of the leading poets of his generation even before he won the 2004 Pulitzer Prize. His voice and sensibility are distinctive, and the places he goes are ones where not many writers are able or willing to venture. The dark world of his poems, which face many of the hardest truths we must learn to live with, is lit by humor, tenderness, compassion, and honesty. For this edition, the poet has selected from the best of his previous collections, in some cases making substantial revisions, and has added his newest poems. The resulting collection is exciting in its breadth, consistency, depth, and distinction.

Genres: Poetry

192 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

Born in Vienna, Franz Wright is the author of fourteen collections of poetry. Walking to Martha's Vineyard (Knopf 2003) was awarded the Pulitzer Prize. His newest collections, God’s Silence, and Earlier Poems were published by Knopf in, 2006 & 2007. Wright’s other books include The Beforelife (2001), Ill Lit: New and Selected Poems (1998), Rorschach Test (1995), The Night World and the Word Night (1993), and Midnight Postscript (1993). Mr. Wright has also translated poems by René Char, Erica Pedretti, and Rainer Maria Rilke. He has received the PEN/Voelcker Award for Poetry, as well as grants and fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the Whiting Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts. Wright has taught in many colleges and universities, including Emerson College and the University of Arkansas. He is currently the writer-in-residence at Brandeis. He has also worked in a mental health clinic in Lexington, Massachusetts, and as a volunteer at the Center for Grieving Children.

Franz Wright, son of the poet James Wright, began writing when he was very young. At 15, he sent one of his poems to his absentee father, who wrote back, “You’re a poet. Welcome to hell.” James and Franz Wright are the only father and son to have won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. In a short essay on writing, Franz writes, “Think of it: a writer actually possesses the power to alter his past, to change what was once experienced as defeat into victory and what was once experienced as speechless anguish into a stroke of great good fortune or even something approaching blessedness, depending upon what he does with that past, what he makes out of it.” Charles Simic has characterized Wright as a poetic miniaturist, whose "secret ambition is to write an epic on the inside of a matchbook cover." Time and again, Wright turns on a dime in a few brief lines, exposing the dark comedy and poignancy of his heightened perception.

Reviews

[Donna Munro · Rating 5 out of 5]

I carried this book around like it was a holy book that would protect me from harm, and in fact it is a book that is gentle and consoling, though it may require that you have suffered in a chronic and debilitating way in order to really feel the comfort. What Wright so often does is unbind the demons, let them have their say, then step in and add "in spite of all this, there's hope, there's good reason to live." Which is not to say he doesn't also find beauty--another gift is finding beauty in places you wouldn't expect to find it. That's something you learn to do when you're often in pain--to save your life, you look for beauty, and you find it.

[Hamuel Sunter · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favourite poets are since-recovered alcoholics, I guess. I read this because of To Myself which is the first poem that spoke intimately to me.

But there's a lot good besides. Wright is a master, especially of the shorter forms.

ONE IN THE AFTERNOON
Unemployed, you take a walk.
At an empty intersection
you stop to look both ways as you were taught.
An old delusion coming over you.
The wind blows through the leaves.

THE FORTIES
And in the desert cold men invented the star

Voice, Certain Tall Buildings, Night Writing, Loneliness, and Untitled from Entry In An Unknown Hand too, are great.

[Michael Morris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Franz Wright is a powerful, unique voice in modern poetry. These amazing early poems showcase the talent that would later bloom like am exploding sunflower in Walking to Martha's Vineyard, God's Silence, and Wheeling Motel.

[Richard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting to see Wright's earlier work in seeing how much he's extended himself in something like Walking to Martha's Vineyard. A lot of these earlier poems still have the sense of potently emotional imagery that he's always been known for, but there are a lot of poems in this anthology that contextualize the imagery, a kind of poetic chalk-and-talk--first the image in a situation, and then philosophizing from there. In his later work, Wright allows the image itself to convey the emotion without the context, and when it works, he is mighty powerful in his delivery. Quite interesting, though, to see that he had to build himself up towards that kind of grandeur. I wasn't as intrigued by the New in this collection as I had hoped, though. But with a title like this, it's hard to miss.

[Alicia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sometimes I’m sick and waiting to be wheeled into surgery and reading “To Myself” a few times to try and make myself feel better and it works

[Dan Sendker · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fairly redundant: most of the selections here come from the same four books that make up Wright's "Earlier Poems" collection. The Rilke translations and new poems here are great, but there's not that many of them. I wish Franz held off on a "selected works" compilation until the 2000s so he could include more of his later works.

[Joemca · Rating 5 out of 5]

great collection of wright poems

[Jason]

Anyone looking for the poem "Encounter at 3 a.m." which Franz read aloud on the Clem Snide album Hungry Bird -- it's here. That alone makes this volume worth seeking out.