American Modern And Contemporary Poetry

Modern And Contemporary American Poetry

James Wright (1927-80)

The Photo is taken from: English Literature Databanks of English Department, Fu-Jen University





	The photos are taken from James Wright: A Profile, edited by Frank Graziano and Peter Stitt

Biography	E-texts
Guiding Questions	Interpretations

Online Journal

	Biography The Academy of American Poets presents a brief biography on Wright's life and work	The photo credit: The Academy of American Poets

	Another site presents a brief biogaraphy

			The photos are taken from James Wright: A Profile, edited by Frank Graziano and Peter Stitt

To gain the idea of Wright's themes and poems, it is a great help to visit the site of The Heath Anthology of American Literature which provides an introductory guide to get into the world of Wright's poetry.



	E-texts


		A Note Left in Jimmy Leonard's Shack

		At the Executed Murderer's Grave (for J. L. D.)

		Saint Judas

		As I Step over a Puddle at the End of Winter, I Think of an Ancient Chinese Governor

		Autumn Begins in Martins Ferry, Ohio

		Lying in a Hammock at William Duffy's Farm in Pine Island, Minnesota

		Fear Is What Quickens Me

		A Blessing

		In Response to a Rumor That the Oldest Wharehouse in Wheeling West Virginia, Has Been Condemned

		In Memory of the Horse David, Who Ate One of My Poems

		To a Blossoming Pear Tree

		May Morning

		The Journey

		Having Lost My Sons, I Confront the Wreckage of the Moon: Christmas, 1960

		Beginning

		A Poem of Towers

Lightening Bugs Asleep in th Afternoon

The Jewel

Bologna: A Poem about Gold　

   --This poem is based in part on the painting by
     Raphael, in Bologna, called "St. Cecilia."

The Lambs on the Boulder

   --This prose poem is about two paintings, one is
     by Andreas Mantegna, called "The Lamentation over
     the Dead Christ," and the other is the fresco
     about The Last Judgement done by Capolavori di
     Giotto. The poem also talks about the painter
     Cimabue.

--brief discussion of Giotto's life

The Last Pieta, in Florence

   --It's a poem based on
     one of Michaelangelo's
     sculptures, his Pieti
     Fiorentina" that's in
     Florence. It was
     carved between 1550-1555.
     (This sculpture is not
     the same as the more
     famous pieta in the
     Vatican).



	Guiding Questions


	In our department's English Literature Databanks

	In The Heath Anthology of American Literature The main purpose is to serve as a teacher's guide to teach Wright's poetry.



	Interpretations

			An excerpt from the essay "Loaded Contradictions, James Wright's Poetic Technique" by Raina Von Waldenburg on Xconnect Multimedia Literary Review (volume 1 issue 2).

			A reading note "On 'Lightning Bugs Asleep in the Afternoon'" by Heather Sauer on the web site of the course "Studies in English and American Poetry" in The Ohio State University-Marion.

			On one of the web pages of "Media Nugget of the Day," several book reviews on Wright's "Above the River: The Complete Poems" by readers are presented through the link to Amazon.Com.

			Brief comment about one reader's affection for Wright's poems

			A great site about "A Blessing" with a neat graphic

			A website presents a parody of Wright's "Lying in a Hammock"

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