James Dickey Poems 1957-1967

by James Dickey

Libro usado en buenas condiciones, por su antiguedad podria contener señales normales de uso

Genres: Poetry, American

299 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1967

About the author

Dickey was born in Atlanta, Georgia. After serving as a pilot in the Second World War, he attended Vanderbilt University. Having earned an MA in 1950, Dickey returned to military duty in the Korean War, serving with the US Air Force. Upon return to civilian life Dickey taught at Rice University in Texas and then at the University of Florida. From 1955 to 1961, he worked for advertising agencies in New York and Atlanta. After the publication of his first book, Into the Stone (Middletown, Conn., 1962), he left advertising and began teaching at various colleges and universities. He became poet-in-residence and Carolina Professor of English at the University of South Carolina.

Dickey's third volume, Buckdancer's Choice (Middletown, 1965), won the prestigious National Book Award in Poetry. From 1966 to 1968 he served as poetry consultant to the Library of Congress. In 1977 Dickey read his poem 'The Strength of Fields' at President Carter's inauguration. The Hollywood film of his novel Deliverance (Boston, 1970) brought Dickey fame not normally enjoyed by poets.

Dickey's poems are a mixture of lyricism and narrative. In some volumes the lyricism dominates, while in others the narrative is the focus. The early books, influenced obviously though not slavishly by Theodore Roethke and perhaps Hopkins, are infused with a sense of private anxiety and guilt. Both emotions are called forth most deeply by the memories of a brother who died before Dickey was born ('In the Tree House at Night') and his war experiences ('Drinking From a Helmet'). These early poems generally employ rhyme and metre.

With Buckdancer's Choice, Dickey left traditional formalism behind, developing what he called a 'split-line' technique to vary the rhythm and look of the poem. Some critics argue that by doing so Dickey freed his true poetic voice. Others lament that the lack of formal device led to rhetorical, emotional, and intellectual excess. The truth probably lies somewhere between these two assessments, and it will be left to the reader to decide which phase of Dickey's career is most attractive.

Dickey's most comprehensive volume is The Whole Motion (Hanover, NH, and London, 1992). His early poems are collected in The Early Motion (Middletown, 1981). Recent individual volumes include The Eagle's Mile (Hanover and London, 1990) and Falling, May Day Sermon, and Other Poems (Hanover and London, 1982). Dickey has also published collections of autobiographical essays, Self Interviews (Garden City, NY, 1970; repr. New York, 1984) and Sorties (Garden City, 197 1; repr. New York, 1984).

From The Oxford Companion to Twentieth-century Poetry in English. Ed. Ian Hamilton. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1994. Copyright © 1994 by Oxford University Press.

Reviews

[Georgia Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

Frank, real, and just the thing if you are hurting or know someone who is.
"The Heaven of Animals" and "Adultery" earn this collection five stars.

[Jonfaith · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is a challenge for me to consider that these poems are all from the same author. There is such a distance in form and ability that it would almost be possible that someone else’s juvenilia was interspersed within or that Dickey went to the crossroads and sold his soul to the arch demon Scalia in exchange for the astonishing longer poems Kudzu, The Firebombing, Mangham, and Falling. These were simply epic and left bruises. The opening selection: May Day Sermon to the Women of Gilmer County, Georgia, by a Woman Preacher Leaving the Baptist Church—well, that was upper case Gothic, well situated alongside Sister Flannery or Suttree.

[D.A. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read Dickey for the moments of gothic beauty and painful transcendence: "Sheep Child," "Heaven of Animals, "Adultery".... yes, there are also many James Dickey poems that make you scratch your head and say, "really?" But when he's got the fire, it is an absolutely soul-wrecking blaze. Glossolalia, snake-handling and all. Sometimes a bit too heavy on the testosterone and hooch. "Combat booze by my side in a cratered canteen." And violence, brutal and swift. But also that triumphant horn that sounds in the wilderness, blowing down "the walls of the world/that the dying may float without fear." The terrible destructive violence and cancer, the predatory beasts that descend upon our backs, the firebombing and war and diabetes....all of this deadly force is opposed by Dickey's underlying insistence upon redemption. There is an absolutely contagious passion to his work which, at its best, casts leagues of sunlight over the suffering body "in a stroke of life." Dickey's language is terrifyingly alive; still potent for readers who are discovering and rediscovering his cruel and loving realm of the sublime.

[Al · Rating 5 out of 5]

The collection to start with from one of our best, and today sadly neglected, poets. Since his death Dickey has been overlooked and dismissed. This book shows why he should not be.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

To be fair, I only read the poem The Sheep Child. It's quite strange so therefore I liked it. I am not a poetry person but heck, it was only 2 pages long and it is an influence of Donald Ray Pollock. The whole coupling with sheep....ummm, Deliverance, anyone? Yep, same author. Is this the same people we learn about in the backwoods of Georgia? Some mighty strange things happening in them woods and fields, just saying.

[Julie · Rating 5 out of 5]

one of the books of poetry I most frequently pick up off the shelf to re-read a favorite poem or just crack open and randomly select. Includes one of my favorite Dickey poems "A Dog Sleeping on My Feet"

[Roxanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of my favorite collections of poetry, ever. I have had this book for well over ten years, and each time I return to it, I find it even more delightful than the last time I read it. Amazing works here.

[John Rowe · Rating 3 out of 5]

I learned about Poems: 1957-1967 from Pat Conroy's My Reading Life in which he states his awe for James Dickey's writing. I read and highly enjoyed Deliverance so I thought I'd give this one a try even though I'm not really a poetry guy.

Clearly James Dickey is a master of letters, and several of the poems engaged me. I particularly enjoyed the poems about his WWII experience as a navigator in a night fighter squadron in the Pacific, as well as the last poem in the book about a stewardess that is sucked out of an airliner at altitude and falls into a farm field somewhere in the midwest.

I understand that even before the MeToo movement was a thing, Mr. Dickey (aptly named?) had a pretty tarnished image.

I'm giving this book three stars primarily because I'm not the best at deciphering high class poetry. My approach is to read the words and take what I can from the poems. Sometimes I can even tell what they are about!

[robyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

'we never can really tell / whether nature condemns us or loves us / as we lie here dying of breath'

difficult to rate in the way that poetry collections often are - i think when it comes to eliciting an emotional response in the reader poetry is so so subjective and personal, which is obviously also true of prose but idk i find it much easier to articulate why a certain piece of prose moves me than why i prefer one poem to another especially when they're written by the same person! anyway tldr a lot of the poems in this collection didn't do much for me, particularly the earlier ones, but the ones that hit hit soooooo hard. dickey has such a beautiful talent with language that he makes it easy to overlook the occasional foray into horny machismo. love the way he writes about age and ageing, fathers and sons, desire, mortality ! overall my feelings wrt this collection are a little muddled but my god the masterpieces are absolutely unparalleled (FALLING! christ!!!!!!!!!!!!)

[Damien · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dickey was one of the truly great American poets of the latter half of the 20th century. Some of his immortal poems include "The Sheep Child," "The Heaven of Animals," "Shark's Parlour," and "Cherrylog Road."

[Nick Roark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sublime

[Rosa]

“Cream Vichyssoise.”

[Jason Robinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Possibly the finest book of poetry by a major American poet that I've ever read.

[Patrick Gibson · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great neglected poet.

I am pretty sure this is out of print since the copy I found at the used bookstore was from the 60's. If you are not familiar with his writings ("Deliverance") try this (then start trying to hunt down a copy of this book):

'Creation Made Like Hope'

"Ethereal and supreme
Of tersest heaven it
has pronounced a daily storm
While hours have been supreme, it has
had hours in its
glee
A purple name
has covered the fans of sovereign
things about its
existence
Has raised and has raised, but
there has been no death
in these mornings

Has experienced and has perched
Has put up with it and has disinvested
Has raised and has razed
Has pondered and has asked
Has said and has raised"

[Brad Watson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book years and years ago. I was surprised to see Patrick call Dickey a "neglected" poet -- shows you how out of touch I am. How could Dickey (to my mind) be a neglected poet? He was one of the great American poets of the latter half of the 20th century. These poems have the kind of energy and life I love to see in poetry. Not a delicate poet, if I recall correctly. Reading them is more like being in the early, crazy stages of a love affair.

[Shawna · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this collection of poetry because it was such an inspiration to Pat Conroy, one of my favorite writers. It was interesting, but I could have used some help in understanding it because I don't usually read much contemporary poetry. Reading in a class with the help of the professor would have been good and would have helped me appreciate it even more.

[whimsicalmeerkat · Rating 3 out of 5]

Who doesn't love James Dickey? And really, what is there to say. These are wonderful, moving poems. I loved it.

[Winter Sophia Rose · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fire!!! I Loved It!!!