Elegy: Poems

by Mary Jo Bang

Overview

Elegy by Mary Jo Bang was the winner of the 2007 National Book Critics Circle Award in Poetry, and a 2008 New York Times Notable Book

Look at her—It's as if
The windows of night have been sewn to her eyes.
—from "Ode to History"

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781555975401
Publisher:	Graywolf Press
Publication date:	09/29/2009
Pages:	80
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.40(d)

About the Author

Mary Jo Bang is the author of six collections of poetry, including The Bride of E. Elegy won the 2007 National Book Critics Circle Award. She lives in St. Louis, Missouri, where she teaches in the writing program at Washington University.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“A work of startling breadth, one that explores what is essential to all losses.” —The Philadelphia Inquirer

“[A] powerful fifth collection . . . Writing to mourn the death of her adult son, Bang interrogates the elegiac form and demands of it more than it can give, frustrated, over and over again, with memory, which falls pitifully short of life . . . Bang offers, if not hope, a kind of keeping company, a way, however painful, to go on.” —Publishers Weekly

“Bang tears asunder and reassembles the elegy, an ancient vessel, infusing it with feelings pure, piercing, and cauterizing.” —Booklist

“Had the jacket not said Elegy chronicles the year following the death of her son, Bang’s book would still move you for its grace, not its real-life poignancy.” —Entertainment Weekly

Editorial Reviews

“A work of startling breadth, one that explores what is essential to all losses.” —The Philadelphia Inquirer

“[A] powerful fifth collection . . . Writing to mourn the death of her adult son, Bang interrogates the elegiac form and demands of it more than it can give, frustrated, over and over again, with memory, which falls pitifully short of life . . . Bang offers, if not hope, a kind of keeping company, a way, however painful, to go on.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Bang tears asunder and reassembles the elegy, an ancient vessel, infusing it with feelings pure, piercing, and cauterizing.” —Booklist

“Had the jacket not said Elegy chronicles the year following the death of her son, Bang’s book would still move you for its grace, not its real-life poignancy.” —Entertainment Weekly

From the Publisher