Ecopoetry: A Critical Introduction

by J. Scott Bryson (Editor), John Elder (Foreword by)

The burgeoning field of ecocriticism is beginning to address the work of such ecopoets as Gary Snyder, Mary Oliver, W. S. Merwin, and Wendell Berry, among others, whose poems increasingly deal with ecological and environmental issues. Ecopoetry: A Critical Introduction assembles previously unpublished contributions from many of the most important scholars in the field as they discuss the historical and crosscultural roots of ecopoetry, while expanding the boundaries to include such themes as genocide and extinction, the lesbian body, and post colonialism. This volume gathers these necessary voices in the emerging conversation regarding poetry’s place in the environmental debate.

Genres: Poetry, Essays, Nonfiction, Ecology

284 pages, Paperback

First published January 4, 2002

Reviews

[Ellen-Arwen Tristram · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really excellent collection of essays about ecopoetry collated by J Scott Bryson. It has some essays about definitions of ecopoetics, with a great forward by John Elder who makes everything fit together very satisfactorily. Bryson's own Introduction is well-crafted and interesting from a scholarly perspective - I think Bryson offers the first proper working definition of ecopoetry we have!

The book is split into three broad sections: 'Forerunners of Ecopoetry' (including writers like Emerson, Yeats and William Carlos Williams; 'Contemporary Ecopoetics' (including Gary Snyder, WS Merwin and Mary Oliver; and 'Expanding the Boundaries' (people who are really new to the field, or wouldn't normally be read as ecopoets, such as Margaret Atwood.)

Although this book is already TWENTY years old, it still seems to be the best scholarly introduction to ecopoetry that I've read - and it's a very fast changing field!

My person favourite essays were: 'Place and Space in the Poetry of W.S. Merwin', 'The Style of Wendell Berry's A Timbered Choir', 'The Pragmatic Mysticism of Mary Oliver', 'The Transpersonal Wide in Margaret Atwood's Ecological Poetry' and 'Landscape and the self in W.B. Yeats.' There's really something for everything here (although you probably won't enjoy everything; I didn't really enjoy 'Derek Walcott and the Melancholic Narrative of Landscape' but that's a personal preference thing - I'm not a fan of Walcott in general.)

Not only does Bryson introduce you to the key ecopoets of the time, but also the critics which is essential if you're going to be doing academic writing about this school of poets. A really excellent resource book.

[Louise Chambers · Rating 3 out of 5]

Includes essays about the poetry of Mary Oliver, Linda Hogan and others.
I think this is a book that could be updated yearly to include all of the new poems and poets. Ecopoetry is such a fast growing feild, and this book felt a bit dated, although it is very up-to-date.