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Tryst
Angie Estes' Tryst was named one of two finalists for the 2010 Pulitzer Prize in Poetry. The citation called it "a collection of poems remarkable for its variety of subjects, array of genres and nimble use of language."
- GenresPoetry
86 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 2009
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
June 27, 2010
I admire the attention and Marianne Moore-esque feel of this book. Would teach alongside Robyn Schiff's poems.
April 16, 2017
Five or six poems I'll want to return to for a long, long time. Love the fact there are citations in the back. These are research poems, and when they work, they work like nothing else.
August 5, 2014
The mobility/motility of Estes's work has its marvels, can be marvelous. I read Enchantee first, so like it better for its attention to form. Beautiful gems, however, glimmer from this book too: "Here Lightning Had Been," "So Near Yet So Far," "Bouree," are a few.
July 14, 2013
I found this dazzling: the language is sinuous and playful, while each poem unfolds with complete grace and poise.
November 27, 2021
“Tryst” by Angie Estes is a 29-poem poetry book segmented in to four parts. The various categorization of the poems into their four respective sections does not seem to have a specific organization. The book in its entirety is circular in nature with themes repeated throughout, not strictly separated. If the book must be defined in distinct parts, the first grouping would be the introduction to the topic of (secret) love, especially throughout various cultures. The second section would be the focus on language, a clear love of the narrator. Part three would be where the narrator brings in a slight personal aspect to the work; it also has the connection to expansive world and time travel. The final section is a culmination of the work. It brings in the aspects love, language, culture and personal life to an ending, parting of ways, death.
“Tryst” speaks on broad topics: love, language, and culture. All of these transcend time and can be applied to today. Estes references ancient texts in her poems and showcases a prime example of someone being smitten with the outdated forms of language that is resurgent today (in a slightly different way). Estes uses her diction skills extensively in this work through the element of foreign language; “Tryst” includes multiple languages, such as Italian, French, German, and Norwegian. Estes utilizes language throughout the book in clever techniques along with the themes and appreciate of language. “Tryst” undoubtedly fits the niche for anyone interested in linguistics.
In addition to language, the poetry book does not hesitate to play around with settings and environments by crossing country boundaries and even time constraints. The work is a hodgepodge of events from the past; it doesn’t focus solely on one era of history, such as World War II. The poems do make multiple references to the second world war, but the overall work encompasses much more than that. Estes paints clear portrayals of the Renaissance; she details painters and rules of Ancient Rome along with traditional architectural pieces. The amalgamation of a large scope of history and broad languages displays a mastery of language within this collection. Estes bases each poem on the historical connection found through the word(s) that can function in more than one setting. The double meaning is the bridge between personal, present metaphors, or ideas to the past context that reveals the meaning of the poem.
The book also employs a wide array of other poetic techniques, such as homonyms, motif, and stylized form. However, spacing is the predominate mode used to convey the meaning in her poems. Estes creates poems with nontraditional spacing as an expression of theme. The decision of spacing could have been influenced by pacing, the sound of the words, and other tonal elements. The idea of spacing to depict conversation is the angle most clearly associated with tryst in the work. Secret rendezvouses between lovers is a meeting of communication. The way the pairing talks with one another varies, as does the spacing in the poems. In select poems, the spacing strays from strictly left justified and is reframed as left justified next to right justified; in this way, the words meet in the middle. The lines or stanzas appear as if they are talking to each other, spreading their ideas with each other from their own unique vantage point. The forms of the poems utilized in “Tryst” are transitory like the bird in flight, love throughout the ages, and modes of language.
All in all, I believe “Tryst” could have won the Pulitzer. The poetic techniques are there. The mastery of language is there. The air for interpretation and imagining is there. The lack of the award is not in what the book has, it is what is absent, hidden, kept in a tryst.
“Tryst” speaks on broad topics: love, language, and culture. All of these transcend time and can be applied to today. Estes references ancient texts in her poems and showcases a prime example of someone being smitten with the outdated forms of language that is resurgent today (in a slightly different way). Estes uses her diction skills extensively in this work through the element of foreign language; “Tryst” includes multiple languages, such as Italian, French, German, and Norwegian. Estes utilizes language throughout the book in clever techniques along with the themes and appreciate of language. “Tryst” undoubtedly fits the niche for anyone interested in linguistics.
In addition to language, the poetry book does not hesitate to play around with settings and environments by crossing country boundaries and even time constraints. The work is a hodgepodge of events from the past; it doesn’t focus solely on one era of history, such as World War II. The poems do make multiple references to the second world war, but the overall work encompasses much more than that. Estes paints clear portrayals of the Renaissance; she details painters and rules of Ancient Rome along with traditional architectural pieces. The amalgamation of a large scope of history and broad languages displays a mastery of language within this collection. Estes bases each poem on the historical connection found through the word(s) that can function in more than one setting. The double meaning is the bridge between personal, present metaphors, or ideas to the past context that reveals the meaning of the poem.
The book also employs a wide array of other poetic techniques, such as homonyms, motif, and stylized form. However, spacing is the predominate mode used to convey the meaning in her poems. Estes creates poems with nontraditional spacing as an expression of theme. The decision of spacing could have been influenced by pacing, the sound of the words, and other tonal elements. The idea of spacing to depict conversation is the angle most clearly associated with tryst in the work. Secret rendezvouses between lovers is a meeting of communication. The way the pairing talks with one another varies, as does the spacing in the poems. In select poems, the spacing strays from strictly left justified and is reframed as left justified next to right justified; in this way, the words meet in the middle. The lines or stanzas appear as if they are talking to each other, spreading their ideas with each other from their own unique vantage point. The forms of the poems utilized in “Tryst” are transitory like the bird in flight, love throughout the ages, and modes of language.
All in all, I believe “Tryst” could have won the Pulitzer. The poetic techniques are there. The mastery of language is there. The air for interpretation and imagining is there. The lack of the award is not in what the book has, it is what is absent, hidden, kept in a tryst.
August 23, 2022
this is music & crucifixion
December 14, 2011
I struggled through this book. Estes references many things (Dante, places in Provence, Roman history etc.) that sent me scurrying to dictionaries, atlases and google. I hate putting down a book and searching for something on the computer. Eventually, I just gave up on trying to figure out what the hell she was talking about and started to enjoy her free association, word play and musicality. Suddenly, the book opened up to me and poems like Taking Cover and Tryst were particularly delightful. She has a way of trusting her instincts and allowing a poem to flow wherever it wants to go. This freedom when it works is wonderful.
There is a notes section to the book and I found it to be the single most unhelpful notes of any poetry book I've ever read. It's basically a bibliography of her source material and provides no assistance in understanding the references. I kept flipping back to it hoping that magically an actual note on the poem would appear.
We read it for the poetry book group and Estes had one vocal admirer, three people who couldn't stand it and a couple people somewhere in the middle like me.
There is a notes section to the book and I found it to be the single most unhelpful notes of any poetry book I've ever read. It's basically a bibliography of her source material and provides no assistance in understanding the references. I kept flipping back to it hoping that magically an actual note on the poem would appear.
We read it for the poetry book group and Estes had one vocal admirer, three people who couldn't stand it and a couple people somewhere in the middle like me.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews