Coin of the Realm: Essays on the Life and Art of Poetry.Coin of the Realm: Essays on the Life and Art of Poetry by Carl Phillips Graywolf Press, June 2004 $15, ISBN ISBN abbr. International Standard Book Number ISBN International Standard Book Number ISBN n abbr (= International Standard Book Number) → ISBN m 1-555-97401-5 Coin of the Realm often leads like a treatise an spirituality, as is suggested by the title's placement of Life before Art. Phillips's approach is solidly based in his background as a classicist clas·si·cist n. 1. One versed in the classics; a classical scholar. 2. An adherent of classicism. 3. An advocate of the study of ancient Greek and Latin. Noun 1. in the European tradition and peppered with his analysis of black poetics, the transcendent rhetoric of Gwendolyn Brooks. and the dilemmas of artistic risk. Equally resonant throughout the collection are themes of trust and betrayal, originality and conformity. Phillips casts a critical net over subjects ms disparate as The Book of Psalms. the 17th-century poet George Herbert, and Black Puts Movement icon Amiri Baraka, carefully dissecting dis·sect tr.v. dis·sect·ed, dis·sect·ing, dis·sects 1. To cut apart or separate (tissue), especially for anatomical study. 2. both the philosophical and aesthetic underpinnings of each author's work. It is perhaps in his writing on the Psalms. and in a sole interview included in this volume, that Phillips lays bare his most cogent motive for the assembly of this particular set of essays on lifo and art. Speaking to poet Nick Flynn in the interview, he recites from the poem "Caravan," which is also featured in the book's dosing essay: "language should be--and is--flexible. it recall, in / this way, morality, how there's nothing, it seems, not to be given / in to." Passionate in itS quest for the quintessentially human, doggedly resolute in its admiration for honesty, this collection reveals Phillips's deftness as a critic, as well as his concern with literature's function as a cipher cipher: see cryptography. (1) The core algorithm used to encrypt data. A cipher transforms regular data (plaintext) into a coded set of data (ciphertext) that is not reversible without a key. of devotion. In "No Rapture: The Psalms and Restiveness res·tive adj. 1. Uneasily impatient under restriction, opposition, criticism, or delay. 2. Resisting control; difficult to control. 3. Refusing to move. Used of a horse or other animal. " Phillips admits: "... I would equate the urge to make art with spiritual faith: we believe [in] divine attention: we call it audience ... Ulterance ... [is] a form of faith." Karma karma or karman (kär`mə, kär`mən), [Skt.,=action, work, or ritual], basic concept common to Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism. Johnson is a Brooklyn-based poet, performing artist, freelance writer and educator. |
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