The Art of Love Poetry

221 Pages·2018·1.298 MB·English

by  Erik Gray

THE ART OF LOVE POETRY

The Art of Love
Poetry
ERIK GRAY
1
3
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For Shira
Couplet
Classicalpoets,boththeGreek
AndLatin,foundthatthebestway
Tocaptureloveandmakeitspeak
Anddemonstrateitsmightysway
Wasinacouplettocombine
Afive-footandasix-footline.
Whetherthesyncopatedbeat
Ofstaggeredlinesseemedtosuggest
Thealternatingrushandrest
Oflovers’hearts—orelsetobe
Therhythmmadebydancingfeet,
Distinctyetcomplementary—
Orifthelinesseemedtoconvey
Thepausesoffamiliartalk,
Orthepairedpaceofthosewhostray
Andwanderintheirdailywalk,
Orsomethingelse,Idonotknow.
Yetsureitisthatsomethingmystic
Seemedtoinvesttheratio
Thatformstheelegiacdistich.
Sothoughtthey.AndIlookatyou
Andfeelthatwhattheythoughtistrue.
Ievenfeelatouchofpride
Toknowthosepoetswouldapprove,
Iftheycouldonlysee,ourlove,
Whichsimilarlyseemstobe
Foundedonnonconformity,
Andgrowsthestrongerforoursense
Ofunionindifference.
Soforthwefare,yourhandinmine,
Oursteps,thoughunalike,allied,
Hopingtheyearsmayseeusstride
Intothedistancesidebyside:
Asix-footline,afive-footline.
Acknowledgments
Myprimarydebtistothestudentsinthevariousseminarsonlovepoetry
Ihavetaughtovertheyears.Manyoftheideasandreadingsinthisbook
were developed during those classes, which were a joy to teach. I am
extremely grateful also toStefanie Markovits andMarion Thain, first for
the invaluable advice that they offered as anonymous readers for Oxford
UniversityPress,andsecondfortheirwillingnesstoforgothatanonymity,
which allowed me to call on them for further assistance. I am deeply
indebtedtothemboth,aswellastoJacquelineNortonatOUP,whohas
encouragedmyworkonthisprojectsinceitsinception.
I began writing this book during a semester of leave from Columbia
Universityandcompleteditduringanother,andIwishtothankColumbia
for its support, as well as my many colleagues in the English Department
who have offered helpful suggestions along the way. In particular, I am
grateful to Matthew Margini (also a notable member of the first-named
groupabove)forhislearnedandextremelyusefulcommentsonChapter4,
andtoJimAdamsforgenerouslyreadingtheentiretypescriptwhenitwas
complete.
PortionsofChapter2werefirstpublishedin“ComeBeMyLove:The
SongofSongs, Paradise Lost,andtheTradition ofthe InvitationPoem,”
PMLA128(2013).AportionofChapter3appearedinRussMcDonald,
Nicholas D. Nace, and Travis D. Williams (eds), Shakespeare Up Close:
Reading Early Modern Texts (Arden, 2012). My thanks to the editors for
permissiontoreprint.
My deepest obligation of all is to my family. To my parents, Bill and
Antoinette Gray, I am forever grateful. The love they have given me
throughout my life is of a different kind from the love that is treated in
thisbook,butitisthegroundandbasisofall.Wereitnotforthat,Iwould
neverhavewrittenthis.EmmettGray,whomadehisappearancebetween
Chapters 4 and 5, cannot be said to have contributed materially to the
writing of this book—except in the very real sense of giving me the
greatest possible incentive to finish it, so I could spend even more time
with him. Finally, to my wife, Shira Backer, I would express how much
I owe, in this as in everything I do. But I cannot possibly express it, and
youknowitalready.
viii Acknowledgments
COPYRIGHT ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Excerptsfrom“DichtungundWahrheit,”fromCollectedPoemsbyW.H.
Auden,reprintedbypermissionofPenguinRandomHouseLLC.
“Three Valentines,” from Poems by Elizabeth Bishop, published by
Chatto & Windus, reprinted by permission of The Random House
GroupLimitedandFarrar,StrausandGiroux.
“AgainstLovePoetry,”fromAgainstLovePoetry:PoemsbyEavanBoland.
Copyright © 2001 by Eavan Boland. Used by permission of W. W.
Norton&Company,Inc.,andCarcanetPress,Ltd.
“NeverAgainWouldBirds’SongBetheSame,”excerptsfrom“TwoLook
atTwo,”and“West-RunningBrook”fromThePoetryofRobertFrost,ed.
Edward Connery Lathem. Copyright © 1923, 1928, 1969 by Henry
Holt & Company; copyright ©1942, 1951, 1956 by Robert Frost;
copyright © 1970 by Lesley Frost Ballantine. Permission granted by
Henry Holt & Company and The Random House Group Limited. All
rightsreserved.
“Love,”fromMirrorsofAstonishmentbyRachelHadas,RutgersUniversity
Press, 1992. Copyright © 1992 by Rachel Hadas. Reprinted by permis-
sionofRutgersUniversityPress.
“The Skunk” and “A Postcard from Iceland” by Seamus Heaney.
Copyright © 1979, 1987 by Seamus Heaney. Reprinted by permission
ofFaberandFaber,Ltd,andFarrar,StrausandGiroux.
“For an Amorous Lady,” copyright © 1939 by Theodore Roethke; from
Collected Poems by Theodore Roethke. Used by permission of Faber and
Faber, Ltd, and of Doubleday, an imprint of the Knopf Doubleday
PublishingGroup,adivisionofPenguinRandomHouseLLC.Allrights
reserved.
ExcerptsfromTheInventionofLove,copyright©1997byTomStoppard.
UsedbypermissionofFaberandFaber,Ltd,andofGrove/Atlantic,Inc.
Any third party use of this material, outside of this publication, is
prohibited.
“Love Song (Sweep the house clean...)” by William Carlos Williams,
from The Collected Poems: Volume I, 1909–1939, copyright © 1938 by
New Directions Publishing Corp. Reprinted by permission of New Dir-
ectionsPublishingCorp.andCarcanetPress, Ltd.
Contents
Introduction 1
1. LoveandPoetry 15
2. Invitations 49
3. Kissing 82
4. Animals 115
5. Marriage 154
Conclusion 190
Epilogue:ShirHashirim 195
WorksCited 197
Index 207