The Flashboat: Poems Collected and Reclaimed

by Jane Cooper

"To be cherished."―Richard Howard Former New York State Poet Jane Cooper brings together work from four earlier books, along with eighteen previously unpublished poems. In a voice of unusual integrity Jane Cooper traces the arc of a life, from poems written out of the shadow of World War II, to haunting personal elegies, to poems that, with no loss of intimacy, engage history with passion and subtlety. Here are poems of love, loss, friendship, concern for the lives of women, the humor and "complex shame" of a white Southern heritage, the mysteries of art. "[A] beautifully assembled life’s work. Jane Cooper has been engaged in a long, patient act of making, a consideration of self-in-the-world vigorous, humble, and fierce all at once. It isn’t quite accurate to say The Flashboat is full of life; instead, in its way, it is a life."―Mark Doty "[A] splendid book."― Publishers Weekly

Genres: Poetry

262 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

About the author

Jane Cooper was an American poet born in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Cooper attended Vassar College from 1942 to 1944, and earned a B.A. from the University of Wisconsin in 1946. In 1953–54 Cooper took a year off to get an M.A. at the University of Iowa, where she studied with Robert Lowell, and John Berryman in the Iowa Writers' Workshop.

Cooper joined the faculty of Sarah Lawrence College, in 1950, and remained as a teacher and poet in residence until her retirement in 1987. She held the post of New York State Poet from 1995 to 1997. She died on October 26, 2007, of complications due to Parkinson's Disease.

Reviews

[Julie Ehlers · Rating 3 out of 5]

This didn't do much for me, I'm afraid. I loved some of the poems but was underwhelmed by the vast majority of them. Of course, I am probably the problem here, not the poems themselves, but acknowledging that doesn't make me enjoy the poems more. I also don't think I was the problem with the prose pieces in here--a couple of them were interesting, but Cooper's prose style is not exactly sparkling, and I think it was a mistake to include them. At the very least, they should have been gathered in a separate section, rather than being scattered throughout and messing with my momentum. I'm not sorry I read this, but I'm glad I'm finished.

[Diane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Probably 3 and a half stars. I stumbled across Jane Cooper's book in a used book store and decided to give it a try. I find it hard to review poetry because there are always some poems I like much more than others. This also had some prose pieces but they felt dated and weren't as moving as her poems.

[Mills College Library]

811.54 C777f 2000