Edward Hirsch

thumb|Edward Hirsch Edward Hirsch (born January 20, 1950), an American poet and critic. Quotes The line is a way of thinking in poetry, by poetry..it paces the poem. 'Five points' vol 4 no 2 Georgia State University Press Winter 2000 These ruinous days of Autumn.At dusk,the brightness seeps through the crumbling air,at dusk the air gathers up the brightness 'The Renunciation of Poetry' I was never able to praybut let me inscribe my namein the book of waves. 'I was never able to pray' How to Read a Poem And Fall in Love with Poetry (1998) Poetry is a voicing, a calling forth, words waiting to be vocalized. Inspiration is inbreathing, indwelling, poetry can never be entirely willed. It may be true a poet is given only a single line but that line is a gift from the unconscious, intution , a perception. There is no true poetry unconcious inspiration. For most of history poetry has been an oral art, it retains the vestiges of orality, an experience embedded in the sensuality of sounds. The poem is an original and unique creation, but it is reading and recitation: participation. The poet creates it; the people by recitation recreate it. Poet and reader (hearer) are moments of the same reality. The poem is an act beyond paraphrase because what is being said is always inseparable from the way it is being said. Poetry is a form of necessary speech. Quotes about Hirsch Hirsch's poems are compassionate , reverential , sometimes relievingly ruthless. Review-'Los Angeles Times Book Review' by Dana Goodyear External link Examples of Hirsch poems Extract links Hirsch's 'Poets Glossary' Category:Poets from the United States Category:Academics from the United States Category:People from Chicago Category:1950 births Category:Living people Category:Literary critics