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Wesleyan Poetry Program
Buckdancer's Choice
Poetry that is a blend of superb gift and subtle imagination by a mature and original poet at his finest.
Winner of the National Book Award (1966)
Winner of the Melville Cane Award (1966)
Whoever looks to a new book by James Dickeys for further work in an established mode, or for mere novelty, is going to be disappointed. But those who seek instead a true widening of the horizons of meaning, coupled with a sure-handed mastery of the craft of poetry, will find this latest collection satisfying indeed.
Here is a man who matches superb gifts with a truly subtle imagination, into whose depths he is courageously traveling―pioneering―in exploratory penetrations into areas of life that are too often evaded or denied. "The Firebombing," "Slave Quarters," "The Fiend"―these poems, with the others that comprise the present volume, show a mature and original poet at his finest.
Winner of the National Book Award (1966)
Winner of the Melville Cane Award (1966)
Whoever looks to a new book by James Dickeys for further work in an established mode, or for mere novelty, is going to be disappointed. But those who seek instead a true widening of the horizons of meaning, coupled with a sure-handed mastery of the craft of poetry, will find this latest collection satisfying indeed.
Here is a man who matches superb gifts with a truly subtle imagination, into whose depths he is courageously traveling―pioneering―in exploratory penetrations into areas of life that are too often evaded or denied. "The Firebombing," "Slave Quarters," "The Fiend"―these poems, with the others that comprise the present volume, show a mature and original poet at his finest.
- GenresPoetry
79 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1965
231 people want to read
About the author
James Dickey
188 books209 followersDickey 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.
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.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
October 12, 2021
Favorite poems:
“The Firebombing”
“Faces Seen Once”
“Reincarnation”
“The Escape”
“Gamecock”
“Slave Quarters”
“The Firebombing”
“Faces Seen Once”
“Reincarnation”
“The Escape”
“Gamecock”
“Slave Quarters”
October 13, 2021
One of my favorite collections of poetry. Felt like doing shrooms
November 2, 2017
So I can't honestly say I enjoyed much of this, but I can still appreciate it. Or I'll tell myself I can.
"Faces Seen Once" and "Dust" will stick with me.
And "Slave Quarters" is a powerful piece of writing.
But many of the rest left me confused. Or something.
"Faces Seen Once" and "Dust" will stick with me.
And "Slave Quarters" is a powerful piece of writing.
But many of the rest left me confused. Or something.
July 26, 2021
Brilliant. Devastating.
Thank you, Jim.
Thank you, Jim.
June 4, 2023
Maybe my favorite book of poetry.
January 19, 2008
James Dickey, Buckdancer's Choice (Wesleyan, 1965)
Buckdancer's Choice, Dickey's fourth book, should have been the one that catapulted him into the national spotlight. (That didn't happen for another five years, until he released his first novel: Deliverance.) Buckdancer's Choice won Dickey the 1965 National Book Award for poetry, as well as getting him named consultant in poetry to the Library of Congress. But, as is usually the way with these things, in the wider world, Dickey remained just as obscure as ever for another half-decade.
There are few nits that can be picked with a book full of stuff as powerful as James Dickey's. Two of the best poems he wrote in his long and illustrious career, "The Fire-Bombing" and "The Fiend," both found their first homes in this slim volume. Both are in the style Dickey invented, presumably nameless, which plays with line breaks by putting them in the middles of lines. (Yes, folks, I know these are called caesurae, but they're not regular, like one would find in Old English poetry; think of it more as a form of Gerard Manley Hopkins' sprung rhythm applied to free verse.) The effect is to get the reader to pause more often than normal, and thus to force the reader to emphasize images in his reflections on the poem than he otherwise normally would:
"He descends.....a medium-sized shadow.....while that one sleeps and turns
In her high bed in loss.....as he goes limb by limb.....quietly down
The trunk with one lighted side...."
("The Fiend")
Coupled with these are, of course, poems written in a more "regular" style, equally as powerful, combining enchantment and revulsion. It was said in Victorian times that the mark of British gentility was to have a copy of one of Tennyson's works prominently displayed in one's home. Were America to value poetry that much, there is little doubt Buckdancer's Choice would be on the short list of books that would mark American gentility in a similar way, or at least a certain type of American gentility. Some of the best American poetry written since (or, perhaps, since long before) World War II. **** ½
Buckdancer's Choice, Dickey's fourth book, should have been the one that catapulted him into the national spotlight. (That didn't happen for another five years, until he released his first novel: Deliverance.) Buckdancer's Choice won Dickey the 1965 National Book Award for poetry, as well as getting him named consultant in poetry to the Library of Congress. But, as is usually the way with these things, in the wider world, Dickey remained just as obscure as ever for another half-decade.
There are few nits that can be picked with a book full of stuff as powerful as James Dickey's. Two of the best poems he wrote in his long and illustrious career, "The Fire-Bombing" and "The Fiend," both found their first homes in this slim volume. Both are in the style Dickey invented, presumably nameless, which plays with line breaks by putting them in the middles of lines. (Yes, folks, I know these are called caesurae, but they're not regular, like one would find in Old English poetry; think of it more as a form of Gerard Manley Hopkins' sprung rhythm applied to free verse.) The effect is to get the reader to pause more often than normal, and thus to force the reader to emphasize images in his reflections on the poem than he otherwise normally would:
"He descends.....a medium-sized shadow.....while that one sleeps and turns
In her high bed in loss.....as he goes limb by limb.....quietly down
The trunk with one lighted side...."
("The Fiend")
Coupled with these are, of course, poems written in a more "regular" style, equally as powerful, combining enchantment and revulsion. It was said in Victorian times that the mark of British gentility was to have a copy of one of Tennyson's works prominently displayed in one's home. Were America to value poetry that much, there is little doubt Buckdancer's Choice would be on the short list of books that would mark American gentility in a similar way, or at least a certain type of American gentility. Some of the best American poetry written since (or, perhaps, since long before) World War II. **** ½
August 22, 2014
I see I have very few poetry books here, while I've got hundreds on my actual bookshelves. That might be because I seldom feel I have read and finished a book of poems. I dabble in them all, reading a bit here and there, but one of my goals right now is COMPLETION - hence the reviews will be forthcoming.
I found myself really admiring Dickey's play between transparency and an oblique subtext that keep me staring at stanzas like I used to stare at creek beds as a kid where I was sure I had just glimpsed minnows. Is there something there? Yes? No? Can't quite tell what it is but I sense its nearness.
That experience when reading reminds me what poetry is. All the same, I liked the more accessible poems best, my favorite being "Mangham" which captures a portrait of teacher-seen-by-pupil.
There is a Southern flavor here too, which I enjoyed. But a book like this doesn't need a review from someone like me. I mean, hey, it won prizes and the guy is an iconic American writer. No more needs to be said.
I found myself really admiring Dickey's play between transparency and an oblique subtext that keep me staring at stanzas like I used to stare at creek beds as a kid where I was sure I had just glimpsed minnows. Is there something there? Yes? No? Can't quite tell what it is but I sense its nearness.
That experience when reading reminds me what poetry is. All the same, I liked the more accessible poems best, my favorite being "Mangham" which captures a portrait of teacher-seen-by-pupil.
There is a Southern flavor here too, which I enjoyed. But a book like this doesn't need a review from someone like me. I mean, hey, it won prizes and the guy is an iconic American writer. No more needs to be said.
December 26, 2015
Buckdancer's Choice: Poems by James Dickey (Wesleyan University Press 1964) (811.0). Dickey has submitted an interesting poetry collection. The one that appealed most to me was "The Shark's Parlor," which was a tale of shark fishing on Cumberland Island. This book won the National Book Award, but it's not my favorite James Dickey. My rating: 7/10, finished 12/1/2010.
October 11, 2013
This is a book of poems for dudes. A little too masculine for my tastes.
March 20, 2011
'The Firebombing' may be my favorite poem by an American.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews