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Sunday, January 19, 2014
Review of Stag's Leap by Sharon Olds
Confessional
poetry never caught my imagination. But I do remember some breathtaking
exceptions. I’m thinking of the intensity of Sylvia Plath’s Daddy and W.D.
Snodgrass’ affecting Heart’s Needle. That’s a bit of my background and part of
my peculiar bias.
Sharon
Olds’ 2013 Pulitzer Prize winning collection entitled Stag’s Leap (the name and
cover logo borrowed from a cheesy wine bottle trademark) spotlights all the
worst faults of confessional poetry with few off-setting virtues. One of this
book’s blurbs calls Stag’s Leap a “stunningly poignant sequence…contemplative
and deep.” I find the same sequence, for the most part, pathetic shallow pabulum.
For more of my review go here: http://dougholder.blogspot.com/2014/01/stags-leap-by-sharon-olds.html
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