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China Trace
Book by Wright, Charles
- GenresPoetry
66 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1977
1 person is currently reading
17 people want to read
About the author
Charles Wright
246 books110 followersCharles Wright is an American poet. He shared the National Book Award in 1983 for Country Music: Selected Early Poems and won the Pulitzer Prize in 1998 for Black Zodiac.
From 2014 to 2015, he served as the 20th Poet Laureate of the United States. Charles Wright is often ranked as one of the best American poets of his generation. He attended Davidson College and the Iowa Writers’ Workshop; he also served four years in the U.S. Army, and it was while stationed in Italy that Wright began to read and write poetry. He is the author of over 20 books of poetry.
Charles Wright is a Chancellor of The Academy of American Poets and the Souder Family Professor of English at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. His many collections of poetry and numerous awards—including the Pulitzer Prize, the Griffin International Poetry Prize, and a Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize—have proven that he is, as Jay Parini once said, “among the best poets” of his generation. Yet Wright remains stoic about such achievements: it is not the poet, but the poems, as he concluded to Genoways. “One wants one’s work to be paid attention to, but I hate personal attention. I just want everyone to read the poems. I want my poetry to get all the attention in the world, but I want to be the anonymous author.”
From 2014 to 2015, he served as the 20th Poet Laureate of the United States. Charles Wright is often ranked as one of the best American poets of his generation. He attended Davidson College and the Iowa Writers’ Workshop; he also served four years in the U.S. Army, and it was while stationed in Italy that Wright began to read and write poetry. He is the author of over 20 books of poetry.
Charles Wright is a Chancellor of The Academy of American Poets and the Souder Family Professor of English at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. His many collections of poetry and numerous awards—including the Pulitzer Prize, the Griffin International Poetry Prize, and a Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize—have proven that he is, as Jay Parini once said, “among the best poets” of his generation. Yet Wright remains stoic about such achievements: it is not the poet, but the poems, as he concluded to Genoways. “One wants one’s work to be paid attention to, but I hate personal attention. I just want everyone to read the poems. I want my poetry to get all the attention in the world, but I want to be the anonymous author.”
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
November 16, 2024
honestly didn't love this, but "clear night" is a perfect poem
April 7, 2023
Hmmmm….I think I know what he was shooting for, the sparse language of the early Chinese poets. Two or three poems were strikingly good, the rest were not.
Reunion
Already one day has detached itself from all the rest up ahead.
It has my photograph in its soft pocket.
It wants to carry my breath into the past in its bag of wind.
I write poems to untie myself, to do penance and disappear
Through the upper right-hand corner of things, to say grace.
Reunion
Already one day has detached itself from all the rest up ahead.
It has my photograph in its soft pocket.
It wants to carry my breath into the past in its bag of wind.
I write poems to untie myself, to do penance and disappear
Through the upper right-hand corner of things, to say grace.
June 6, 2023
Just as with *The Southern Cross*, I was 20+ pages in before I found myself thoroughly engaged by a poem in this collection.
There were a handful of poems that caught my eye, and I enjoyed the doing they did.
I like how Wright goes about reinventing language the way he does. I could probably pick out some of his poems in a lineup.
There were a handful of poems that caught my eye, and I enjoyed the doing they did.
I like how Wright goes about reinventing language the way he does. I could probably pick out some of his poems in a lineup.
September 4, 2011
I started to read the longer collection "Country Music," but found it so unappealing that I skipped ahead and just read "China Trace," since that's said to be one of the best collections of recent American poetry.
I found his imagery messy and difficult to focus on. When I was able to focus, his overwrought lines bore out no greater meaning than "we're all gonna be dirt in the ground." To say that these poems reflect early Chinese poetry is, I think, very misleading. Chinese poetry used simple language and concepts to convey deep meaning, whereas Wright does just the opposite.
Given that C.W. is so well respected, I was glad to find this criticism:
". . . some reviewers criticize Wright's tendency to use lush figurative language out of context, others find that the power of Wright's imagery makes up for any lapse in focus. Similarly, some critics find that Wright's musings about the nature of life and death often fall flat, owing in large part to his narrow focus and somber equivocation. . ."
http://www.enotes.com/charles-wright-...
There were a couple decent poems here, but as with most of his significant lines, they get lost in the gilded language of their neighbors.
I found his imagery messy and difficult to focus on. When I was able to focus, his overwrought lines bore out no greater meaning than "we're all gonna be dirt in the ground." To say that these poems reflect early Chinese poetry is, I think, very misleading. Chinese poetry used simple language and concepts to convey deep meaning, whereas Wright does just the opposite.
Given that C.W. is so well respected, I was glad to find this criticism:
". . . some reviewers criticize Wright's tendency to use lush figurative language out of context, others find that the power of Wright's imagery makes up for any lapse in focus. Similarly, some critics find that Wright's musings about the nature of life and death often fall flat, owing in large part to his narrow focus and somber equivocation. . ."
http://www.enotes.com/charles-wright-...
There were a couple decent poems here, but as with most of his significant lines, they get lost in the gilded language of their neighbors.
April 14, 2013
With each collection of poems, Wright gets better and better.
October 1, 2013
Maybe the best book of poetry I have ever read.
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July 28, 2017811.54 W9483c 1977
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews