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Cancer Poetry PDF

242 Pages·2015·2.618 MB·English
by  TwiddyIain
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Cancer Poetry Also by Iain Twiddy PASTORAL ELEGY IN CONTEMPORARY BRITISH AND IRISH POETRY Cancer Poetry Iain Twiddy © Iain Twiddy 2015 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2015 978-1-137-36199-8 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No portion of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, Saffron House, 6–10 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The author has asserted his right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. First published 2015 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN Palgrave Macmillan in the UK is an imprint of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS. Palgrave Macmillan in the US is a division of St Martin’s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010. Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies and has companies and representatives throughout the world. Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries. ISBN 978-1-349-55539-0 ISBN 978-1-137-36200-1 (eBook) DOI 10.1057/9781137362001 This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. Logging, pulping and manufacturing processes are expected to conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Twiddy, Iain. Cancer poetry / Iain Twiddy, Hokkaido University, Japan. pages cm Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Cancer patients in literature. 2. Cancer in literature. 3. English poetry—20th century—History and criticism. 4. American poetry—20th century—History and criticism. 5. Cancer patients’ writings, English— History and criticism. 6. Cancer patients’ writings, American—History and criticism. I. Title. PR605.C26T95 2015 821.009'3561—dc23 2015018345 Typeset by MPS Limited, Chennai, India. Contents Acknowledgements vii Cancer Poetry: An Introduction 1 Incidence and oncology 4 Cancer treatment 7 The language of cancer 9 Poetic approaches to cancer 17 1 Spousal Cancer: The Flowering of Grief 27 Donald Hall: Without 28 Donald Hall: The Painted Bed 35 Christopher Reid: A Scattering 40 Douglas Dunn: Elegies 47 2 Parental Cancer: The Functions of Repression 54 Sharon Olds: The Father 57 Anne Sexton’s maternal elegies 64 Paul Muldoon: ‘Yarrow’ 69 Michael Longley’s paternal elegies 74 3 Locating Breast Cancer 79 Julia Darling 81 Audre Lorde 84 Alicia Suskin Ostriker 89 Marilyn Hacker 93 4 Surviving Cancer 101 Jo Shapcott: Of Mutability 102 Rae Armantrout: Versed 109 Christian Wiman: Every Riven Thing 115 5 Terminal Words: Conversing with Cancer 124 Edwin Morgan: ‘Gorgo and Beau’ 125 Philip Hodgins: Leukaemia poetry 130 6 Paul Muldoon: Cancer and the Ethics of Representation 144 Terrorism and Censorship in ‘Horse Latitudes’ 146 v vi Contents ‘Hedge School’ and ethical metaphor 156 ‘Turkey Buzzards’: metaphorical support 158 7 Fierce Verse: Cancer and Imaginative Redress 163 Gwyneth Lewis: A Hospital Odyssey 166 Tony Harrison: ‘Four Poems for Jonathan Silver in His Sickness’ 172 Paul Muldoon: ‘Incantata’ 175 Paul Muldoon: Maggot 179 8 Remission 189 Notes and References 199 Bibliography 222 Index 228 Acknowledgements Work on this book was enabled by a generous grant from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS). Many thanks to the team at Palgrave Macmillan, especially Paula Kennedy and Peter Cary, for com- missioning and overseeing this project. Thanks also to Jon Darwin, for hospitality during research trips, and to Matthew Boswell, for decades of advice and inspiration. This book was written with Laura Blackledge, Alan Lane, Marian Robson, Susan Twiddy and Helen Walsh dearly in mind. It is dedicated to Edward. Grateful acknowledgement to reprint material is made to the editor of New Hibernia Review, in which an earlier version of Chapter 6 appeared. The author acknowledges permission to quote from the following works: Excerpts from Poems 1960–2000 (2000) by Fleur Adcock, A Hospital Odyssey (2010) by Gwyneth Lewis, and Collected Poems 1: Poems 1970– 1984 (1995) by Peter Reading by kind permission of Bloodaxe. Excerpts from On the Night Watch (2010) and Until Before After (2010) by Ciaran Carson and Collected Poems (2007) by Michael Longley by permission of Wake Forest University Press. Excerpts from On the Night Watch (2009) by Ciaran Carson by kind permission of the author and The Gallery Press, Loughcrew, Oldcastle, County Meath, Ireland. Excerpts from Until Before After (2010) by Ciaran Carson by kind permission of the author and The Gallery Press, Loughcrew, Oldcastle, County Meath, Ireland. Excerpts from Teratologies: A Cultural Study of Cancer (2007) by Jackie Stacey by kind permission of the author. Excerpts from Sudden Collapses in Public Places (2003) and Apology for Absence (2004) by Julia Darling by kind permission of the Julia Darling Estate. Excerpts from Rae Armantrout, ‘Later’, ‘Own’, ‘Together’, ‘Translation’, Pass’, ‘The Racket’, ‘Apartment’, and ‘Fact’ from Versed © 2009 by Rae vii viii Acknowledgements Armantrout. Reprinted by kind permission of Wesleyan University Press. Excerpts from A Scattering (2009) by Christopher Reid by permission of Areté. Excerpts from Mortality by Christopher Hitchens. Copyright © 2010 by Christopher Hitchens. By permission of Grand Central Publishing. All rights reserved. Excerpts from The Little Space: Poems Selected and New, 1968–1998, by Alicia Suskin Ostriker, © 1998, are used by permission of the University of Pittsburgh Press. Excerpts from The Painted Bed: Poems by Donald Hall. Copyright © 2002 by Donald Hall. Reprinted by permission of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved. Excerpts from Without: Poems by Donald Hall. Copyright © 1998 by Donald Hall. Reprinted by permission of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved. Excerpts from Collected Poems (2005) by Patrick Kavanagh by kind permission of the Jonathan Williams Literary Agency. Excerpts from Selected Poems (1997) by Philip Hodgins by kind permis- sion of Janet Shaw. Excerpts from Sightlines (2012) by Kathleen Jamie by kind permission of the author. Excerpts from Frissure (2013) by Brigid Collins and Kathleen Jamie by kind permission of Kathleen Jamie. Excerpts from “After the Diagnosis,” “Darkcharms,” “The Mole,” and “When the Time’s Toxins” from EVERY RIVEN THING by Christian Wiman. Copyright © 2011 by Christian Wiman. Excerpts from “Baginburn,” “Beersheeba,” “Beijing,” “Berwick-upon-Tweed,” “Blackwater Fort,” “Blaye,” “Bronkhorstspruit,” “Burma,” “Hedge School,” “Sillyhow Stride,” and “Turkey Buzzards,” from HORSE LATITUDES by Paul Muldoon. Copyright © 2006 by Paul Muldoon. Excerpts from “A Hare at Aldergrove,” “Balls,” “Moryson’s Fancy,” and “When the Pie Was Opened” from MAGGOT by Paul Muldoon. Copyright © 2010 by Paul Muldoon. Excerpts from “Incantata,” “Profumo,” “The Sightseers,” and “Yarrow” from POEMS: 1968–1998 by Paul Muldoon. Copyright © 2001 by Paul Muldoon. Excerpts from ‘Like I Was Your Girlfriend’ by Martin Malone by kind permission of the author. Excerpts from A Book of Lives (2007) by Edwin Morgan by permission of Carcanet. Acknowledgements ix Author’s note It will be evident in the text where it was not possible for excerpts from poems to be reproduced for the purpose of analysis. The author asks for the reader’s understanding of this restriction.

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