First and Last Words
by Fred Chappell
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Fred Chappell continues to astonish. In his new collection of verse, he matches the vitality and grace, the deep intelligence and keenly observant sensibility, that characterize such earlier works as Midquest and Source. First and Last Words revives the traditional practice of supplying new prologue and epilogue poems to classic works of literature. The poems invite renewed acquaintance with familiar works and authors?The Georgics and The Dynasts, Livy and Lucretius, Goethe and Tolstoy, The show more Wind in the Willows?and are offered as a celebration of their enduring significance. In ?The Watchman,? a prologue to the Orteseia, Chappell writes: The watchman keeps his vigil on the roof Of the ruining house. This long year, Stretched out on his belly like a hound, He has awaited the semaphore Blaze, awaited proof Of the victory that shall pull down A proud and bitter family. In rain Or cold starshine, gripping the eave, He has searched the hard horizon for a sign. Still other poems are appreciations of music or the visual arts, as in ?My Hand Placed on a Rubens Drawing?: The ages work toward mastery Of a single gesture. A torso?s twist, The revelation of a thigh, White stone corded in a fist: Fragments that might still add up To compose a figure of the perfected soul As it releases from the grip Of vision that burned to draw it whole. All of the poems in First and Last Words are marked by a thoughtful use of the voice and a careful attention to language. They confirm Fred Chappell?s status as one of our very finest living poets. show lessTags
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58+ Works 1,663 Members
Born in Canton, North Carolina, Fred Chappell earned a Master's degree at Duke University. He has written numerous novels and books of poetry, including First and Last Words, Midquest, More Shapes than One, and I Am One of You Forever. Among the awards Chappell has received in his illustrious career are the Sir Walter Raleigh Prize in 1973, the show more North Carolina Award for Literature in 1980, Yale University Library's Bollingen Prize in poetry in 1985, and the Aiken Taylor Award in poetry in 1996. Chappell is Burlington Industries Professor of English at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. He also writes about poetry every month as a News & Observer book columnist. He was selected by the governor of North Carolina to be the state's poet laureate in 1997, a position he held until 2002. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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