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Theories and Apparitions
In this, his eighth book of poetry, Mark Doty's subjects - our mortal situation, the evanescent beauty of the world, desire's transformative power and poetry's ability to give shape to human lives - echo and develop. The first poem, 'Pipistrelle', is a typically eloquent disquisition on the art of communication prompted by the flight of a bat - 'an inky signature too fast to trace' - and is followed by an extraordinary series of meditations and variations on this theme.
The poet listens to cicadas, to Handel, to the calling of birds, to Juan the loquacious Mexican taxi driver; he steeps himself in the colour and incident of the streets and subways of New York City; he goes for a never-ending chi-gong massage and is visited by the shades of Berryman and Whitman.
As the images accumulate and cohere, guided by Doty's unique style - both plainspoken and sophisticated, both wry and profound - we arrive at a new understanding of the way we live and the world we live in. He shows us what we love and its magnificent fragility - that 'the house of beauty is a house of flames' - and we see, once again, why he is regarded as one of America's most recognisable and most significant poets.
The poet listens to cicadas, to Handel, to the calling of birds, to Juan the loquacious Mexican taxi driver; he steeps himself in the colour and incident of the streets and subways of New York City; he goes for a never-ending chi-gong massage and is visited by the shades of Berryman and Whitman.
As the images accumulate and cohere, guided by Doty's unique style - both plainspoken and sophisticated, both wry and profound - we arrive at a new understanding of the way we live and the world we live in. He shows us what we love and its magnificent fragility - that 'the house of beauty is a house of flames' - and we see, once again, why he is regarded as one of America's most recognisable and most significant poets.
- GenresPoetry
51 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2008
46 people want to read
About the author
Mark Doty
89 books338 followersMark Doty is a poet, essayist, and memoirist. He is the author of ten books of poetry, including Deep Lane and Fire to Fire: New and Selected Poems, which won the National Book Award. He lives in New York, New York.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
March 2, 2019
Mark Doty’s Theories and Apparitions (2008), maintains the quality of writing that has gone before, but there are new tonalities. It is a fine collection of controlled poems. Many of the poems balance line control with flowing narratives that naturally meander like rivers. Doty is wary of a kind of poetry that gets from A to B too quickly, equally suspicious of a poetry that goes nowhere and drowns in a welter of unmoving images. Running through the volume is a light-filled and light-hearted hermeticism which questions and upholds language. Reviews of Theories and Apparitions have used words like “sound-bite” and “colloquial” to characterise the poetry. Both descriptions undervalue the quality of Mark Doty’s writing: “sound-bite” should be replaced with hi-definition and “colloquial” with plainspeaking.
December 5, 2012
My mother is a poet. As a result of this poetry books are constantly scattered around the house. The words of Rumi, Khalil Gibran, and Omar Khayyam are always floating through the house. Being my mother’s daughter, I should love these poets and their works as well. I am sorry to say that I never took a great liking to the spiritual poetry that moves my mother so much. I enjoy much more, poetry about simple beauty, everyday life and problems. “Oranges” by Gary Soto is one of my favorite childhood poems about something so simple as oranges. “in a middle of a room” by E.E. Cummings takes place in a single moment as a young man contemplates taking his life. It is these poems, the ones that revolve around daily life and problems that interest me the most.
It is for this reasons that I enjoyed Mark Doty’s Theories and Apparitions so much. His poems take place in modern day New York, and revolve around the simplest of things, a garden or a clock, for example. He takes these simple objects and redefines them as he, and others, sees them. In addition to these snapshots of simple life he explores other ideas and realms of thought. In “Apparition (Favorite Poem)” he ponders over the fact that society is losing any deep thoughts, and that “the old words are dying, /everyone forgets them”. He explores the fascinations and uses of language as we use it today. Throughout the book of poems, the theme of language, words, and how they are used keeps popping up. Small instances, where the poet says he doesn’t know which word to use next, or a man selling toys on the street can’t pronounce what he is saying, or saying how we have forgotten history. The theme of the power of language, among others, is prevalent in this collection of poems.
Doty’s insightful thoughts, in combination with his casual way of writing, made Theories and Apparitions an extremely enjoyable read. I thoroughly loved reading this book of poetry, and highly recommend it to anybody, even people who think they are poetry haters. Whatever your level of appreciation for poetry, I guarantee this will please you.
It is for this reasons that I enjoyed Mark Doty’s Theories and Apparitions so much. His poems take place in modern day New York, and revolve around the simplest of things, a garden or a clock, for example. He takes these simple objects and redefines them as he, and others, sees them. In addition to these snapshots of simple life he explores other ideas and realms of thought. In “Apparition (Favorite Poem)” he ponders over the fact that society is losing any deep thoughts, and that “the old words are dying, /everyone forgets them”. He explores the fascinations and uses of language as we use it today. Throughout the book of poems, the theme of language, words, and how they are used keeps popping up. Small instances, where the poet says he doesn’t know which word to use next, or a man selling toys on the street can’t pronounce what he is saying, or saying how we have forgotten history. The theme of the power of language, among others, is prevalent in this collection of poems.
Doty’s insightful thoughts, in combination with his casual way of writing, made Theories and Apparitions an extremely enjoyable read. I thoroughly loved reading this book of poetry, and highly recommend it to anybody, even people who think they are poetry haters. Whatever your level of appreciation for poetry, I guarantee this will please you.
February 21, 2021
Like all the best art, an interaction with it leaves you changed in some way. Doty's words slide into the brain and nestle comfortably, cleverly reminding us of the beauty available to us in the everyday world. Loved it!
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December 22, 2024this was so gorgeous oh my god i need to read some more mark doty- it isn't in this collection but he wrote a poem called tiara which is honestly one of the most gorgeous elegies ive ever read and theres such a good vid of him reading it, its gorgeous
March 17, 2025
Some of the most stunning poetry I have read in a long long time. Grand images created, yet never compromised for artistic flair. Free verse yet irreducibly clinical with its language. Doty is a sight to behold. Can’t wait to read more of his.
January 6, 2016
Not my absolute favourite Doty, but still very much deserving of a place of pride on my bookshelf. I particularly enjoyed "Apparition (Favorite Poem)" (because who can resist Ozymandias?), "House of Beauty", "Theory of the Soul", "Theory of Beauty (Grackles on Montrose)" (incendiary rippling, pure delight / imperious, impure singing: / traffic in tongues, polyglot / expansive, awry), "Theory of Pompeii" (short but brilliant, with Pleasure with a little shiver inside it and I thought I was no longer afraid / of the death's head beneath the face of the man beneath me), "Theory of Marriage (The Hug)" (only by vanishing / into the beloved do you make it clear: / what else is there you'd want to see?) and "Theory of the Sublime" (body that's climbed all the way to the tip / of the concrete vertebra / and now contemplates stepping off).
May 12, 2011
In "Theories and Apparitions," Mark Doty writes about themes somewhat more abstract than in previous collections. Many of the "Apparitions" poems entail the speaker getting lost in his own vision, as the "Theory" poems find Doty returning to the subject of beauty, especially that which results from viewing a single object from multiple perspectives.
My favorite poem in this collection is "Theory of Beauty (Greenwich Avenue)," which likens an array of 37 clocks to New York City, explaining that "beauty resides not within / individual objects but in the nearly / unimaginable richness of their relation." More generally, though, as a lifelong resident of New York City, I was really able to relate to Doty’s wonderful descriptions of various aspects of the city.
My favorite poem in this collection is "Theory of Beauty (Greenwich Avenue)," which likens an array of 37 clocks to New York City, explaining that "beauty resides not within / individual objects but in the nearly / unimaginable richness of their relation." More generally, though, as a lifelong resident of New York City, I was really able to relate to Doty’s wonderful descriptions of various aspects of the city.
March 31, 2014
A nice meditative book. The two stand-out poems to me were Theory of Marriage and Theory of Narrative.
June 23, 2014
From the opening poem about pipistrelles, this book doesn't put a word wrong. I think I may have to read everything he's ever written.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews