Transcendental Studies: A Trilogy

New California Poetry

by Keith Waldrop

This compelling selection of recent work by internationally celebrated poet Keith Waldrop presents three related poem sequences―"Shipwreck in Haven," "Falling in Love through a Description," and "The Plummet of Vitruvius"―in a virtuosic poetic triptych. In these quasi-abstract, experimental lines, collaged words torn from their contexts take on new meanings. Waldrop, a longtime admirer of such artists as the French poet Raymond Queneau and the American painter Robert Motherwell, imposes a tonal override on purloined materials, yet the originals continue to show through. These powerful poems, at once metaphysical and personal, reconcile Waldrop's romantic tendencies with formal experimentation, uniting poetry and philosophy and revealing him as a transcendentalist for the new millennium.

Genres: Poetry

211 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

American poet and academic, author of numerous books of poetry and prose, translator of the works of Claude Royet-Journoud, Anne-Marie Albiach, Edmond Jabès, Charles Baudelaire, and others.

Reviews

[june · Rating 5 out of 5]

The sentences woven into the pages of this book are so delicately intricate.

Waldrop writes with a kind of fluidity that sets the reader free within their own space of interpretation and perception. There were many times where I had to take a deep breath and reread the lines of the same poem again just because it hit me too hard the first time round.

An absolute masterpiece.

/the glass is combed for it to turn opaque/

[Donna Kirk · Rating 5 out of 5]

National Book Award Finalist, Professor at Brown.

[Josh Doughty · Rating 2 out of 5]

Purchased after reading lesser known Hawkes from press by this author.

I should stop reading poetry.

BATHS

“Clay mixed with hair.”


^thats it^

Anyway, I’m sure I can pick up other stuff from him at a reasonable price (I think I purchased this because everything else was unjustifiably priced higher(his wife’s work even higher)).

“The eye does not always
give a true impression, leading
the mind to judgment. In
painted scenery, for instance, I
cannot grant you anything.”



Thanks.

[Justin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Winner of the National Book Award, Transcendental Studies is a triptych of unrelentingly fragmentary thought. The sense of assembly informs the collection deeply: the three sections span twenty years, and their juxtaposition here could be seen as an act of forced contiguity (though prolificacy has placed many works between the three here). Individually, the builtness of each book within this book is immediate. The first, "Shipwreck in Haven," salvages and reconstitutes a vesseled consciousness, beginning with flotsam and ending with something seafaring, if not more resembling a lucid ghost ship. The most "familiar-looking" book, "Falling in Love with a Description," confronts most directly familiar-looking concerns: passage of time, dissatisfaction with complacency and excess, poetics. In Leeway, Waldrop says that he "would like to discuss / many things." In order to do so, he commands: "Picture this emptiness." Much of Waldrop's task is clearing away old structures and features and terraforming to his specs. The third section, "Plummet of Vetruvius," inhabits an anachronistic space where concepts of engineering butt up against the desire to absolve dictates of space Often, Waldrop's multiplexity of form realizes this, (but in an odd way, encourages "construction") and "Vetruvius" is no exception to this variation. Waldrop concludes the collection with his most introspective stretch, "Stone Angels." The pall issued by both signification of monument and the senselessness of legacy hangs. In toto, this is a gratifying read, and, in line with the Listz compositions which share this book's namesake, a virtuosic challenge and assertive reconfiguration of the self.

[Emma Shanti · Rating 5 out of 5]

“A while and a while and a while, after a while make something like forever.”

That’s how long I want to keep Waldrop’s words with me.

[Brooke · Rating 4 out of 5]

Actually this is brilliant. I struggled to follow along with these poems and had a lot of trouble finding the whole meaning, but I read a few reviews about the avant-garde style and it actually seems like a really great craft technique for me to try. (sorry I'm obnoxious like this). But in all seriousness, though I didn't fully grasp what was going on 100% of the time, the words were beautiful. This is art. Sign me up for more.

[EIJANDOLUM]

"Under such illumination, darkness
becomes terror."

"Expecting nothing without
struggle, I come to expect nothing
but struggle."

"Night, with its crypt, its
cradlesong. Rage
for day’s end: impatience,
like a boat in the evening."

[James Hemby]

National Book Award for poetry, 2009

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book, the first I’ve read of Keith Waldrop’s work, felt difficult, both allusive and elusive, and more abstract than the poetry I tend to prefer. It won the National Book Award for Poetry last year, but somehow I hadn’t heard of it until it caught my eye at the library, and I picked it up knowing nothing about it. The publisher’s blurb says this: “In these quasi-abstract, experimental lines, collaged words torn from their contexts take on new meanings,” which, along with the title, provides a way in to the work: it’s OK if this feels like bits and pieces, and it’s OK if, like Liszt’s etudes, this feels like a challenge. This was one of those books of poetry where, after reading it basically straight through over the course of a few days, I felt like I needed to put it down for a day or two, then pick it up and start over again—which is indeed what I did, and I liked it more the second time through.

[Gregory · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a collection of three earlier works, loosely linked by a set of reoccurring themes. In interviews, Waldrop explains that his method of creation was to set out three different books and pull small pieces from each. His emphasis is on sound and assembling images rather than creating cohesive narratives or arguments, so I can���t imagine someone looking for ���meaning��� in a traditional sense will be satisfied. Admittedly, it often seems difficult to determine what links individual stanzas together other than proximity. Nevertheless, if you are willing to dig a bit, there are some gems here ��� meditations that are somewhat trance inducing.

[honey 🐝 · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disappointing. Maybe I missed the point, maybe I just couldn't get into the right state of mind to properly absorb and understand the material as written. I honestly expected more than the emotional fragments spread out through the 200 or so pages that I was presented. Not poorly written, just not for me I'm afraid.