Lines of Defense: Poems

Fiction & Literature, Poetry, American
Cover of the book Lines of Defense: Poems by Stephen Dunn, W. W. Norton & Company
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Author: Stephen Dunn ISBN: 9780393242751
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company Publication: January 6, 2014
Imprint: W. W. Norton & Company Language: English
Author: Stephen Dunn
ISBN: 9780393242751
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Publication: January 6, 2014
Imprint: W. W. Norton & Company
Language: English

“[Stephen Dunn] has taken his place among our major, indispensable poets.”—Miami Herald

In his seventeenth collection of poetry, Pulitzer Prize winner Stephen Dunn confronts the lines we fight against and the ones we draw for ourselves. Lines of Defense poignantly captures the absurdities of modern life, expectations derailed, the lived life juxtaposed to the imagined life, and the defenses we don to make do. The poems in Lines of Defense are wry and elegiac, precisely observed and wide-reaching. As with the best of Dunn’s work, they take stock of the quotidian aspects of life, of the essential comedy of getting through the day: finding a lost cat; not being invited to a party; taking a granddaughter to a carnival. The lines of defense are the lines of the verse itself, as poetry forms a stronghold against mortality. This essential volume showcases a poet writing at the height of his powers.

From “Before We Leave”:

Where are we going?
It’s not an issue of here or there.
And if you ever feel you can’t
take another step, imagine
how you might feel to arrive,
if not wiser, a little more aware
how to inhabit the middle ground
between misery and joy.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

“[Stephen Dunn] has taken his place among our major, indispensable poets.”—Miami Herald

In his seventeenth collection of poetry, Pulitzer Prize winner Stephen Dunn confronts the lines we fight against and the ones we draw for ourselves. Lines of Defense poignantly captures the absurdities of modern life, expectations derailed, the lived life juxtaposed to the imagined life, and the defenses we don to make do. The poems in Lines of Defense are wry and elegiac, precisely observed and wide-reaching. As with the best of Dunn’s work, they take stock of the quotidian aspects of life, of the essential comedy of getting through the day: finding a lost cat; not being invited to a party; taking a granddaughter to a carnival. The lines of defense are the lines of the verse itself, as poetry forms a stronghold against mortality. This essential volume showcases a poet writing at the height of his powers.

From “Before We Leave”:

Where are we going?
It’s not an issue of here or there.
And if you ever feel you can’t
take another step, imagine
how you might feel to arrive,
if not wiser, a little more aware
how to inhabit the middle ground
between misery and joy.

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