The Whole Motion: Collected Poems, 1945-1992 (Wesleyan Poetry)

by James Dickey

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Documentation of the development of a major literary figure.

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I was introduced to Dickey when I was a 20 year old college student. Although he was difficult for me then, I have never forgotten my first reading of "The Heaven of Animals". It just blew me away, like how Emily Dickinson said how you know it's poetry when it blows off the top of your head. I've read all of his work now, including the novels, and must say he was one of our greatest American writers.
Just now I picked up this book and read "The Sprinter at Forty".

"And between the dark houses where men,/Grown suddenly light with amazement,/Cry out for their youth among nightmares/Of debt, and turn to their women./Like a choir, something rises about me..."

I understood the poem when I was in my 20s, but now in my 50s, I FEEL it within all show more of me.

It is rather late, and I should be asleep, but I think I'll read some more of this wonderful book to enhance my dreams.
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69+ Works 4,846 Members
James Lafayette Dickey, an American poet and novelist, was born in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1923. He is perhaps best known for Deliverance, his novel about four suburban men struggling to survive a canoe trip gone awry, which was made into a popular movie of the same title, starring Burt Reynolds. Dickey also published several volumes of poetry that show more are marked by his portrayal of a world in conflict. His collected poems (1942-1992) were published under the title The Whole Motion in 1992. After serving as a pilot during World War II, Dickey earned bachelor's and master's degrees from Vanderbilt University. He taught at several universities and worked as poetry consultant to the Library of Congress from 1966 to 1968. He died in 1996. (Bowker Author Biography) show less

Classifications

Genres
Poetry, Fiction and Literature
DDC/MDS
811.54Literature & rhetoricAmerican literature in EnglishAmerican poetry20th Century1945-1999
LCC
PS3554 .I32 .A17Language and LiteratureAmerican literatureAmerican literatureIndividual authors1961-
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Paper, Ebook
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