James Wright Biography
James Wright: A Life in Poetry
Jonathan Blunk FSG, 2017 I've just finished this. It is very thorough as Wright left behind many letters and journals. Blunk also interviewed many of Wright's friends before they died. Wright was incredibly learned and had a vast memory for poems, Dickens, sports trivia, etc. He was also a great teacher of literature, though he became somewhat unreliable because of his drinking. He was the kind of poet whose search for "authenticity" perhaps blinded him to the damage he was doing to others. I personally think that his poetry went astray after his first two books, though I do like individual later poems. He had such a fine "natural" ear that he ended up writing against his own grain for the last 20 years of his life. Still, Blunk shows why it happened and makes the choice sound necessary, given how Wright couldn't detach the poetry from his daily life. He died at 53. Tomorrow is his birthday. |
Here's the James Wright poem that James Galvin referred to more than once in class:
Saint Judas When I went out to kill myself, I caught A pack of hoodlums beating up a man. Running to spare his suffering, I forgot My name, my number, how my day began, How soldiers milled around the garden stone And sang amusing songs; how all that day Their javelins measured crowds; how I alone Bargained the proper coins, and slipped away. Banished from heaven, I found this victim beaten, Stripped, kneed, and left to cry. Dropping my rope Aside, I ran, ignored the uniforms: Then I remembered bread my flesh had eaten, The kiss that ate my flesh. Flayed without hope, I held the man for nothing in my arms. James Wright |
This is one of the poems, read fifty years ago, that helped me discover the type of poetry I wanted to write. Wright somehow convinced himself that this and others like it were "academic" (his word) poetry.
|
It's a strong poem.
|
A friend, not a member of Eratosphere, read this thread and remembered that the poem Saint Judas was discussed by Wright in a letter to a publisher:
Quote:
|
All times are GMT -5. The time now is 06:09 AM. |
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.7.4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.