Get Free Shipping on orders over $79
The Straight Line : Writings on Poetry and Poets - Ron Padgett

The Straight Line

Writings on Poetry and Poets

By: Ron Padgett

Paperback | 11 December 2000

Sorry, we are not able to source the book you are looking for right now.

We did a search for other books with a similar title, however there were no matches. You can try selecting from a similar category, click on the author's name, or use the search box above to find your book.

"The Straight Line" brings together memoir, informal talks, autobiographical essays, unconventional book reviews, instructional pieces, imaginative speculations on the nature of reading, and poems about writing. What distinguishes these pieces is Ron Padgett's refreshing sense of humor and the changing, unexpected angles on his point of view. He pokes fun at the concept of "finding one's poetic voice," has a dream conversation with a Russian poet, talks to his typewriter, parodies Robert Frost, deconstructs the "haiku," finds weird word lists in the dictionary, and extols the pleasures of mistakes in writing.
But along with the playful wit comes Padgett's serious fascination with how words work. Essays discuss such subjects as the otherness of languages; French poets and their relationship to Cubist painters; an afternoon with the poet Edwin Denby; a tribute to Ted Berrigan; twentieth-century modernism; and suggestions for using the computer to write poetry.
The book concludes with pieces that Padgett has written during his thirty years as a teacher of poetry. Essays explore the unexpected relationships between poetry and dance; the practical value of using "gimmicks" to inspire poetry writing; and some radical and entertaining ideas for innovative ways to read creatively.
Ron Padgett is Publications Director, Teachers and Writers Collaborative. His books include "Albanian Diary, Creative Reading, " and "Old Faithful: 18 Writers Present Their Favorite Writing Assignments."
Industry Reviews
The Straight Line will have you laughing all the way to enlightenment...Pedagogical in the friendliest of ways, like an invitation to sit, think, chuckle and sip some joy juice while you realize the most wonderful things about writing...A brilliant writer whose compassion fare outshines his sense of self-importance. This is perhaps the most generous, most entertaining tour that anyone will ever offer through the poetry landscape, with a guide who keeps handing out one after another pair of insight-binoculars..." —George Tysh, Metrotimes, December 2001

"A playful but fascinating investigation..." —Gregory Farnum, Rain Taxi, Fall 2001

More in Literary Studies of Poetry & Poets

The Iliad : Penguin Classics - Homer

RRP $17.99

$16.75

My Year of Reading Welshly : Discovering Wales in 52 Books - Alex Johnson
The Epic of Gilgamesh : Penguin Classics - Andrew George

RRP $26.99

$20.75

23%
OFF
The Iliad : Penguin Clothbound Classics - Homer

RRP $39.99

$31.75

21%
OFF
The Complete Poems : Penguin Classics - William Blake

RRP $35.00

$27.75

21%
OFF
The Ode Less Travelled : Unlocking the Poet Within - Stephen Fry
Collected Poems of Sylvia Plath - Sylvia Plath

RRP $42.99

$33.99

21%
OFF
Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam : First and Fifth Editions - EDWARD FITZGERALD
Autobiography Of Red - Anne Carson

RRP $24.99

$21.75

13%
OFF
The Canterbury Tales : Penguin Classics - Geoffrey Chaucer

RRP $17.99

$14.75

18%
OFF
If Not, Winter : The Complete Fragments Of Sappho - Anne Carson

RRP $29.99

$24.99

17%
OFF
The Collected Poems - Robert Frost

RRP $26.99

$22.99

15%
OFF
Stars Around My Scars : The Annotated Poetry of Taylor Swift - Elly McCausland
Selected Poems : Faber Poetry - Sylvia Plath

RRP $24.99

$19.99

20%
OFF
Selected Poems : Penguin Classics - Jelaluddin Rumi

RRP $17.99

$16.75

The Metamorphoses : Penguin Classics - Publius Ovidus Naso

RRP $17.99

$16.75

Book Of Longing : Popular Penguins : Popular Penguins - Leonard Cohen
Inferno : Penguin Classics - Dante Dante

RRP $14.99

$14.75