It’s
rather startling to read contemporary poetry that rhymes. And Pity
the Beautiful: Poems by Dana
Gioia is startling in exactly that way, and more.
There’s
a name for this, of course; we have to give everything a name: The “New Formalism.” It
reaches back to a time when most poetry did indeed rhyme, and was metrical as
well. It was also a time (roughly pre-World War II, perhaps a little earlier)
when poetry has a much broader appeal than it does today. Newspapers, for
example often published poetry on a daily basis. The poets associated with the
New Formalism include Mark Jarman, Howard Nemerov, Donald Justice, Mary Oliver –
and Dana Gioia.
To continue reading, please see my review
today at Tweetspeak Poetry.
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