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The Art of Syntax: Rhythm of Thought, Rhythm of Song (Art of...) |  | Author: Ellen Bryant Voigt
Publisher: Graywolf Press
Category: Book
List Price: $12.00
Buy New: $4.98
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Seller: athena_books
Rating:  2 reviews
Sales Rank: 21034
Media: Paperback
Edition: Original
Pages: 120
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 6.9 x 5 x 0.6
ISBN: 1555975313
Dewey Decimal Number: 415
EAN: 9781555975319
ASIN: 1555975313
Publication Date: June 23, 2009
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
With intelligence and precision, Ellen Bryant Voigt parses out the deft and alluring shape of poetic language in The Art of Syntax. Through brilliant readings of poems by Bishop, Frost, Kunitz, Lawrence, and others, Voigt examines the signature musical scoring writers deploy to orchestrate meaning. “This structure—this architecture—is the essential drama of the poem’s composition,” she argues. The Art of Syntax is an indispensable book on the writer’s craft by one of America’s best and most influential poets and teachers. Ellen Bryant Voigt is the author of seven collections of poetry, including Messenger: New and Selected Poems 1976-2006, which was a finalist for the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize. She lives in Vermont. With intelligence and precision, Ellen Bryant Voigt parses out the deft and alluring shape of poetic language in The Art of Syntax. Through brilliant readings of poems by Bishop, Frost, Kunitz, Lawrence, and others, Voigt examines the signature musical scoring writers deploy to orchestrate meaning. “This structure—this architecture—is the essential drama of the poem’s composition,” she argues. The Art of Syntax is an indispensable book on the writer’s craft by one of America’s best and most influential poets and teachers.
The Art of Syntax is part of The Art of series, a line of books by important authors on the craft of writing, edited by Charles Baxter. Each book examines a singular, but often assumed or neglected, issue facing the contemporary writer of fiction, nonfiction, or poetry. The Art of series means to restore the art of criticism while illuminating the art of writing. Of the series, Baxter writes, “The Art of series is meant to restore criticism as an art, with writers examining features of their craft in lively and colorful prose.”
Praise for Ellen Bryant Voigt:
"One of our most acute poetic thinkers."—Edward Hirsch
"Since Randall Jarrell, poets have bemoaned the lack of a true poet-critic, a sensibility at once commonsensical, laconic, and appropriately imaginative. Now we have Ellen Bryant Voigt, who offers Jarrell’s combination of wit and gravity—as well as his critical urgency in choosing subjects of scrutiny.”—Carol Muske-Dukes
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| Customer Reviews:
 Will prove to be of immense and practical value to all aspiring writers July 15, 2009
Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA)
9 out of 13 found this review helpful
Graywolf Press is a premier and consistent publisher of poetry and prose with distinctive and enduring literary qualities and values. Now they have newly published a title that will prove to be of immense and practical value to all aspiring writers regardless of the genre they are working in. "The Art Of Syntax: Rhythm Of Thought, Rhythm Of Song" by accomplished poet and essayist Ellen Bryant Voigt focuses upon the poetic language and examines signature musical scoring to reveal the basics and embellishments of the writer's craft as applied to fiction and non-fiction alike, but especially to the creation of verse. "The Art of Syntax" should be considered mandatory reading for any writer who wants to not only produce award-winning quality work, but to be able to interest whole new generations of readers in that work.
 Disequilibration June 10, 2010
SusanBG (San Pedro, CA)
2 out of 10 found this review helpful
I was looking forward to The Art of Syntax. Billed as part of a series of books that look at the "art of criticism while illuminating the art of writing" - I was anxious to see how Voigt used music as a metaphor/link to poetic word choice. Alas, the first few pages drew me to a screeching halt. Voigt begins by using Piaget and "tabla rasa" in the same sentence. She refers to Piaget's view as "nurture". This is grossly inaccurate. Piaget was a cognitive, developmental psychologist - he was not a nurture aka behavioral guy. Piaget believed we are wired to make meaning. It is a natural, internal process. Yes, the environment plays a role, but a role that is very similar to, not opposed to, Chomsky's view of the role of environment - language is universal, the role of the environment is limited to I was born in Philadelphia, therefore I speak English. Piaget suggested that we learn new things when we encounter things that bump up against what we know. Faced with cognitive dissonance, we either accommodate or assimilate. I did argue with myself - because I do think that the neo-Piagetian view does suggest the environment plays a larger roll in what we know - leading Piaget to fall into the psychological constructivist zone, but even then, his work is still grounded in cognitive theory which is nature by design. While I actually think that Voigt is making the point that nature and nurture influence each other - and I agree - I wish that she had used a different example. I still love the idea of the music metaphor, that words sing.
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