The Not Yet Fallen World: New and Selected Poems

“An indispensable volume.” —Ron Charles, Washington Post Book Club

A radiant celebration of Pulitzer Prize–winning poet Stephen Dunn’s enduring oeuvre.

Hailed as "indispensable" (David Wojahn), Pulitzer Prize–winning poet Stephen Dunn masterfully shifts between the metaphysical and the ironic, never wavering in his essential honesty. His graceful poems confront our contradictions with tenderness and wit, enliven the ordinary with penetrating observation, and alert us to the haunting wonders and relationships that surround us.

The Not Yet Fallen World draws from all nineteen of Stephen Dunn’s crystalline volumes, including his most recent, Pagan Virtues (2019); the National Book Critics Circle Award Finalist Loosestrife (1996); and the Pulitzer Prize–winning Different Hours (2000). By turns sardonic and profound, Dunn examines the disguises we don to hide from ourselves and reveals sublime beauty hidden within seemingly mundane interactions. Nine new poems extend the poet’s inquiry into the paradoxes of contemporary life; as he writes in "Love Poem Near the End of the World," "Something keeps me holding on / to a future I didn’t think possible."

Arranged to further Dunn’s signature themes—mortality, morality, and the roles we play in the essential human comedy of getting through each day—this final collection captures the breadth of an acclaimed poet’s achievement. His legacy is a poetic expanse suffused with fearless generosity and perceptive wisdom.

"1140167073"
The Not Yet Fallen World: New and Selected Poems

“An indispensable volume.” —Ron Charles, Washington Post Book Club

A radiant celebration of Pulitzer Prize–winning poet Stephen Dunn’s enduring oeuvre.

Hailed as "indispensable" (David Wojahn), Pulitzer Prize–winning poet Stephen Dunn masterfully shifts between the metaphysical and the ironic, never wavering in his essential honesty. His graceful poems confront our contradictions with tenderness and wit, enliven the ordinary with penetrating observation, and alert us to the haunting wonders and relationships that surround us.

The Not Yet Fallen World draws from all nineteen of Stephen Dunn’s crystalline volumes, including his most recent, Pagan Virtues (2019); the National Book Critics Circle Award Finalist Loosestrife (1996); and the Pulitzer Prize–winning Different Hours (2000). By turns sardonic and profound, Dunn examines the disguises we don to hide from ourselves and reveals sublime beauty hidden within seemingly mundane interactions. Nine new poems extend the poet’s inquiry into the paradoxes of contemporary life; as he writes in "Love Poem Near the End of the World," "Something keeps me holding on / to a future I didn’t think possible."

Arranged to further Dunn’s signature themes—mortality, morality, and the roles we play in the essential human comedy of getting through each day—this final collection captures the breadth of an acclaimed poet’s achievement. His legacy is a poetic expanse suffused with fearless generosity and perceptive wisdom.

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The Not Yet Fallen World: New and Selected Poems

The Not Yet Fallen World: New and Selected Poems

by Stephen Dunn
The Not Yet Fallen World: New and Selected Poems

The Not Yet Fallen World: New and Selected Poems

by Stephen Dunn

eBook

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Overview

“An indispensable volume.” —Ron Charles, Washington Post Book Club

A radiant celebration of Pulitzer Prize–winning poet Stephen Dunn’s enduring oeuvre.

Hailed as "indispensable" (David Wojahn), Pulitzer Prize–winning poet Stephen Dunn masterfully shifts between the metaphysical and the ironic, never wavering in his essential honesty. His graceful poems confront our contradictions with tenderness and wit, enliven the ordinary with penetrating observation, and alert us to the haunting wonders and relationships that surround us.

The Not Yet Fallen World draws from all nineteen of Stephen Dunn’s crystalline volumes, including his most recent, Pagan Virtues (2019); the National Book Critics Circle Award Finalist Loosestrife (1996); and the Pulitzer Prize–winning Different Hours (2000). By turns sardonic and profound, Dunn examines the disguises we don to hide from ourselves and reveals sublime beauty hidden within seemingly mundane interactions. Nine new poems extend the poet’s inquiry into the paradoxes of contemporary life; as he writes in "Love Poem Near the End of the World," "Something keeps me holding on / to a future I didn’t think possible."

Arranged to further Dunn’s signature themes—mortality, morality, and the roles we play in the essential human comedy of getting through each day—this final collection captures the breadth of an acclaimed poet’s achievement. His legacy is a poetic expanse suffused with fearless generosity and perceptive wisdom.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780393882261
Publisher: Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc.
Publication date: 05/24/2022
Sold by: Barnes & Noble
Format: eBook
Pages: 272
File size: 973 KB

About the Author

Stephen Dunn (1939–2021) was the author of nineteen poetry collections, including the Pulitzer Prize–winning Different Hours. He was a distinguished professor emeritus at Richard Stockton University and received an Academy Award in Literature, among many other honors.

Table of Contents

1

Propositions 3

Traveling (from "Sympathetic Magic") 4

History 5

Elementary 7

Tucson 9

If a Clown 10

The Metaphysicians of South Jersey 12

The Storyteller 13

On the Death of a Colleague 16

2

Round Trip 21

3

Odysseus's Secret 33

Wild 35

At the Smichville Methodist Church 37

The Sacred 39

The Death of God 40

The Prayer You Asked For 41

The Woman with Five Hearts 42

Those of Us Who Think We Know 43

The Reverse Side 44

The Revolt of the Turtles 45

To a Terrorist (1993) 47

In the Battle Against Tyranny 49

4

Tiger Face 53

Don't Do That 55

Something Like Happiness 57

Burying the Cat 59

Buster's Visitation 61

The Arm 62

Honesty 64

A Petty Thing 66

Belly Dancer at the Hotel Jerome 68

Here and There 69

The Stairway 70

Fascinations 71

5

Local Time 75

6

Essay on the Personal 87

The Vanishings 89

Talk to God 92

Competition 94

Archaeology 96

Response to a Letter from France 97

The Routine Things Around the House 99

That Saturday Without a Car 101

What Goes On 103

Legacy 105

Juarez 110

7

Here and Now 115

Corners 117

Desire 118

Sea Level 120

Aren't They Beautiful? 121

Instead of You 123

If the Poet 127

And So 127

The Sudden Light and the Trees 128

From Underneath 130

Delineation at Dusk (from "The Snowmass Cycle") 132

Love Poem Near the End of the World 134

8

How to Write a Dream Poem 137

A Secret Life 139

Decorum 140

Bad 142

Testimony 144

The 6:10 to Happiness 145

John & Mary 146

Ambush at Five O'Clock 147

Eggs 149

Shatterings 151

Mon Semblable 153

Becoming Oneself 155

Birds 156

9

Loosestrife 159

10

Before the Storm 169

Story 170

The Waiting 172

In Love, His Grammar Grew 173

Tenderness 174

Sweetness 176

Stone Seeking Warmth 178

Language: A Love Poem 179

Privilege 181

Achilles in Love 183

The Imagined 185

Beautiful Women 186

The House Was Quiet 189

Five Roses in the Morning 190

11

Each from Different Heights 193

Thank You 194

Dancing with God 196

The Guardian Angel 198

Between Angels 200

Long Term 202

Happiness 203

All That We Have 204

Update 206

Everything Else in the World 208

Not the Occult 210

12

Turning Fifty 215

Sixty 217

Different Hours 218

What They Wanted 220

Summer Nocturne 222

Where He Found Himself 223

About the Elk and the Coyotes That Killed Her Calf 224

Around the Time of the Moon 226

Discrepancies 227

The Widening 229

Afterlife 231

13

During the Pandemic 235

A Postmortem Guide (1) 237

The Color of Nightfall 239

An Abbreviated Tour of the Not Yet Fallen World 240

What Men Want 243

A Postmortem Guide (2) 247

Final Bow 249

Index of Titles and First Lines 251

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