University of Pittsburgh Press, 1994 Paper: 978-0-8229-5548-1 | eISBN: 978-0-8229-8088-9 Library of Congress Classification PS3573.A4314T5 1994 Dewey Decimal Classification 811.54
ABOUT THIS BOOK | AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY | REVIEWS | TOC | REQUEST ACCESSIBLE FILE
ABOUT THIS BOOK
Winner of the 1995 Banta Book Prize for a Wisconsin Author
Ronald Wallace is best known for his wit and good humor, his synthesis of technical skill and strong emotion, his sensory immediacy, his accessibility, and charm. Now in Time's Fancy, his fifth collection, Wallace explores the tragic aspects of life more fully, fashioning a declarative poetry that is darker and deeper, more meditative and complex.
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
Ronald Wallace is the author of numerous books of poetry, including: Long for This World: New and Selected Poems; The Uses of Adversity; Time's Fancy; People and Dog in the Sun; and The Makings of Happiness. His works of literary criticism include: God Be with the Clown: Humor in American Poetry; The Last Laugh: Form and Affirmation in the Contemporary American Comic Novel; and Henry James and the Comic Form. Wallace is Halls-Bascom Professor of English, Felix Pollak Professor of Poetry, and codirector of the creative writing program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
REVIEWS
“Part of what sets Wallace apart from other poets who write about personal and family life is his virtuosity with complex forms. . . . Yet Wallace is no mere technician; he weds considerable formal command with grace, passion, intelligence and wit.”
—Publishers Weekly
"Wallace writes a poetry accessible to the general reader: a flexible, idiomatic language capable of moving from lighthearted spoofing to grim pessimism, sometimes all in the same short poem."
—Fred Eckman
"Wallace has an inventive and witty imagination which takes him into all sorts of surprising directions. His work is not only sure in its craftsmandship, but humanly important in its subject matter in treatement. Best of all, it is exuberantly alive."
—Lisel Mueller
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Contents
1
The Life Next at Hand
Cricket
The Failures of Pacifism
Earthly Pleasures
The Astronomy of Loss
Pastoral
Beethoven and the Birds: The Piano Trio in C Minor
Quick Bright Things
2
February 14
Sweet Corn
Dragonflies
The Physics of Marriage
Tricks
The Theory of Relativity
Canzone: Siesta Key
Ballade of the Orangery
Hunger
Why I Am Not a Nudist
A Valentine
3
The Story
The Swing
The Sins of the Fathers
1959
Honky-tonk
Strips
Poison Ivy
Hardware
Ballade of David Parsons
The Resurrection and the Light
Running
The Inaccessible
Saints
Canzone: Egrets
4
Pantoum: The Sturdy of Worry
The Furnace Men
Man and Machine
Why God Permits Evil
Ballade of the Recycling Center
Possum, 1942
Exploration and Discovery
Sentences: A Play in Five Acts
Ballade of the Humpback Whales
5
Dream Lanes
Teachers: A Primer
In the Cards
Grandfather, His Book
Personal Effects
REQUEST ACCESSIBLE FILE
If you are a student who cannot use this book in printed form, BiblioVault may be able to supply you
with an electronic file for alternative access.
Please have the accessibility coordinator at your school fill out this form.
University of Pittsburgh Press, 1994 Paper: 978-0-8229-5548-1 eISBN: 978-0-8229-8088-9
Winner of the 1995 Banta Book Prize for a Wisconsin Author
Ronald Wallace is best known for his wit and good humor, his synthesis of technical skill and strong emotion, his sensory immediacy, his accessibility, and charm. Now in Time's Fancy, his fifth collection, Wallace explores the tragic aspects of life more fully, fashioning a declarative poetry that is darker and deeper, more meditative and complex.
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
Ronald Wallace is the author of numerous books of poetry, including: Long for This World: New and Selected Poems; The Uses of Adversity; Time's Fancy; People and Dog in the Sun; and The Makings of Happiness. His works of literary criticism include: God Be with the Clown: Humor in American Poetry; The Last Laugh: Form and Affirmation in the Contemporary American Comic Novel; and Henry James and the Comic Form. Wallace is Halls-Bascom Professor of English, Felix Pollak Professor of Poetry, and codirector of the creative writing program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
REVIEWS
“Part of what sets Wallace apart from other poets who write about personal and family life is his virtuosity with complex forms. . . . Yet Wallace is no mere technician; he weds considerable formal command with grace, passion, intelligence and wit.”
—Publishers Weekly
"Wallace writes a poetry accessible to the general reader: a flexible, idiomatic language capable of moving from lighthearted spoofing to grim pessimism, sometimes all in the same short poem."
—Fred Eckman
"Wallace has an inventive and witty imagination which takes him into all sorts of surprising directions. His work is not only sure in its craftsmandship, but humanly important in its subject matter in treatement. Best of all, it is exuberantly alive."
—Lisel Mueller
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Contents
1
The Life Next at Hand
Cricket
The Failures of Pacifism
Earthly Pleasures
The Astronomy of Loss
Pastoral
Beethoven and the Birds: The Piano Trio in C Minor
Quick Bright Things
2
February 14
Sweet Corn
Dragonflies
The Physics of Marriage
Tricks
The Theory of Relativity
Canzone: Siesta Key
Ballade of the Orangery
Hunger
Why I Am Not a Nudist
A Valentine
3
The Story
The Swing
The Sins of the Fathers
1959
Honky-tonk
Strips
Poison Ivy
Hardware
Ballade of David Parsons
The Resurrection and the Light
Running
The Inaccessible
Saints
Canzone: Egrets
4
Pantoum: The Sturdy of Worry
The Furnace Men
Man and Machine
Why God Permits Evil
Ballade of the Recycling Center
Possum, 1942
Exploration and Discovery
Sentences: A Play in Five Acts
Ballade of the Humpback Whales
5
Dream Lanes
Teachers: A Primer
In the Cards
Grandfather, His Book
Personal Effects
REQUEST ACCESSIBLE FILE
If you are a student who cannot use this book in printed form, BiblioVault may be able to supply you
with an electronic file for alternative access.
Please have the accessibility coordinator at your school fill out this form.
It can take 2-3 weeks for requests to be filled.
ABOUT THIS BOOK | AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY | REVIEWS | TOC | REQUEST ACCESSIBLE FILE