The Sighted Singer: Two Works on Poetry for Readers and Writers

Rating:
Summary: A Tractatus for poetics
Review: This is an unusual but wonderful book for writers. Imagine a slightly more mystical Wittgenstein retreated to Galway Ireland and returned with a manuscript on the subjet of poetry: The Sighted Singer could be that manuscript.One some level this analogy is entirely superficial: the numbered section and paragraph organization is a direct descendent of Wittgenstein's Tractatus. But the Sighted Singer shares much more with the Tractatus than that: poetic thinking so rigorous it becomes almost mystical, a ladder one must pull up after one has climbed up it.Whether the author's poetics are "right" or "true" is almost inconsequential. His propositions are so challenging and so thought-provoking that the mere experience of reading this book is valuable.If you are a writer or serious reader of poetry, this book will make you more serious about the task at hand in either endeavor.

Rating:
Summary: A Tractatus for poetics
Review: This is an unusual but wonderful book for writers. Imagine a slightly more mystical Wittgenstein retreated to Galway Ireland and returned with a manuscript on the subjet of poetry: The Sighted Singer could be that manuscript.One some level this analogy is entirely superficial: the numbered section and paragraph organization is a direct descendent of Wittgenstein's Tractatus. But the Sighted Singer shares much more with the Tractatus than that: poetic thinking so rigorous it becomes almost mystical, a ladder one must pull up after one has climbed up it.Whether the author's poetics are "right" or "true" is almost inconsequential. His propositions are so challenging and so thought-provoking that the mere experience of reading this book is valuable.If you are a writer or serious reader of poetry, this book will make you more serious about the task at hand in either endeavor.