The Stamp of Class: Reflections on Poetry and Social Class

"The Stamp of Class addresses an important area that has not received sufficient attention. Lenhart directly confronts and deeply analyzes these questions while offering readers his clear, informative discussion." -Lorenzo Thomas   The Stamp of Class explores the nature of reading poetry in the context of class and its themes and sheds new light on how this important yet little-heralded subject affects the poet's life and work.  While numerous works have taken up the question of race and gender as they relate to literary creation, this is the first book of its kind to probe the interplay between class and American poetry. Author Gary Lenhart considers poetry and class across a wide variety of time periods and poetic trends and reflects on a range of influential poets from the eighteenth to the twenty-first centuries.  The essays in The Stamp of Class deal with the question of class as reflected in the works of Tracie Morris, Tillie Olsen, Melvin Tolson, William Carlos Williams, Walt Whitman, and others. The work is rooted in the author's own experiences as a working-class poet and teacher and is the result of more than a decade of exploration.  Poet and scholar Gary Lenhart is Lecturer in English at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire. His most recent books of poetry are Father and Son Night, Light Heart, and One at a Time. His essays and reviews have appeared in numerous magazines and journals, including the American Poetry Review, American Book Review, and Exquisite Corpse.

Literature & Fiction

Lenhart, Gary

History & Criticism

University of Michigan Press

"The Stamp of Class addresses an important area that has not received sufficient attention. Lenhart directly confronts and deeply analyzes these questions while offering readers his clear, informative discussion."-Lorenzo ThomasThe Stamp of Class explores the nature of reading poetry in the context of class and its themes and sheds new light on how this important yet little-heralded subject affects the poet's life and work.While numerous works have taken up the question of race and gender as they relate to literary creation, this is the first book of its kind to probe the interplay between class and American poetry. Author Gary Lenhart considers poetry and class across a wide variety of time periods and poetic trends and reflects on a range of influential poets from the eighteenth to the twenty-first centuries.The essays in The Stamp of Class deal with the question of class as reflected in the works of Tracie Morris, Tillie Olsen, Melvin Tolson, William Carlos Williams, Walt Whitman, and others. The work is rooted in the author's own experiences as a working-class poet and teacher and is the result of more than a decade of exploration.Poet and scholar Gary Lenhart is Lecturer in English at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire. His most recent books of poetry are Father and Son Night, Light Heart, and One at a Time. His essays and reviews have appeared in numerous magazines and journals, including the American Poetry Review, American Book Review, and Exquisite Corpse.

Poetry. "Gary Lenhart displays a gentle and intimate sense of humor, occupied as much in observing others as in inspecting himself. Lenhart can say a great deal in a few words, and he knows how to weave the Big Ideas into his work without pretending to resolve them"--Washington Review.

Light Heart

Poetry

Hanging Loose Press

This book presents 17 practical and innovative essays on using Wiliam Carlos William's work to inspire writing by students and adults. Here are not only the established classics, such as "The Red Wheelbarrow" and "this is Just to Say," but also William's neglected gems, later poems, poems that relate to the visual arts, short fiction, novels, nonfiction, and epic poem "Paterson". Never before have the full range and power of inspiration in William's writing been made available for teachers and individual writers. William Carlos Williams is not only a wonderful writer to learn from and to teach, he is also a gateway into the great modernist writing of the 20th century.

The Teachers and Writers Guide to William Carlos Willliams (Teachers & Writers Guides)

United States

Teachers & Writers Collaborative

Published by Teachers &amp; Writers Collaborative in association with The Library of America, The T&amp;W Guide to Classic American Literature is an anthology of essays that provides rich and diverse approaches and insights to writers and teachers of writing at all levels. These include introducing third graders to Gertrude Stein, teaching Emily Dickinson's poetry to prisoners, and using the model of Henry David Thoreau's journals in the college classroom. The other authors discussed in this book are James Baldwin, Elizabeth Bishop, Raymond Chandler, Stephen Crane, Frederick Douglass, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Zora Neale Hurston, Henry James, Herman Melville, Eugene O'Neill, Lorine Niedecker, Edgar Allan Poe, Anne Porter, Wallace Stevens, Jean Toomer, Mark Twain, Walt Whitman, and William Carlos Williams. The T&amp;W Guide to Classic American Literature also includes a useful bibliography and essay on using World War II journalism to inspire imaginative writing. The distinguished contributors to this volume are veteran teachers of imaginative writing from across the country. The T&amp;W Guide to Classic American Literature is an inspiring collection for teachers American literature and imaginative writing. It is also a fascinating read for anyone passionate about teaching, literature, or creative writing.

The Teachers & Writers Guide to Classic American Literature

Poetry. "He's a nice fella, don't talk much, when he does, good to be with. And so the poems. And so. So each time it's different, the cup of coffee. Pomes, ONE AT A TIME, add up to something. The eyes watch houris, and have it, and make them dancers, since bare twigs pulsate with success. To want to do someting. To do it. To learn how to do what we want to do. Launching a fast boat on the ramp of the pronouns. Belief on the job's curvy. Each moment believes the eyes"--Ted Greenwald.

One at a Time

United Artists Books

Poetry. "Gary Lenhart's brilliant meditations on family life and love seek out the perfect middle distance where there are no limitations on self or selfhood, no objective/subjective borders"--Lewis Warsh. "Tender heart, nimble wit, and tough mind radiate thoughout Gary Lenhart's poems of numinous domesticity, poems that are so well made that their craftsmanship is invisible--the ultimate graciousness of art"--Ron Padgett.

Father And Son Night

Literary Nonfiction. Poetry History & Criticism. Poetics. "Opinions tend to be uninteresting, which is one of the reasons why I always like reading poet Gary Lenhart's critical pieces: he gives us far more than thumbs up or thumbs down. In his clean, clear prose, Lenhart comes across as companionable, smart, well-read, alert, and sane. He has no terrible axes to grind and he never lords it over the work under scrutiny. Even on those rare occasions when I disagree with him, I trust his probity, I am delighted by his wit, and I applaud the fact that ultimately he is rooting for everyone to write well"--Ron Padgett.

Another Look: Selected Prose

Subpress

Poetry. "Gary Lenhart's THE WORLD IN A MINUTE combines all the best of intellect and heart. This compendium of histories takes in the political, ranging from ancient Rome to the Vietnam war to the present; the personal, which verges on memoir in its reminiscences of his life from its working-class childhood roots; and an intimate look at his relationships in the world of art and literature. Lenhart's talent is in fusing public events and injustices with the day-to-day details of an individual life. Writing in a variety of forms with a sly humor and sophisticated wit, he allows us access to personal revelation at the same time that he gently remains the outsider. Yet, everything in Lenhart's world of the self is informed by the state of flux around him: the brevity and intricacies of life mirrored in the events of friends' lives and the historical and social fabric that knits us together. His love for the lived life of art and contemplation--which takes in the world's chaos--finally determines the subject of this book. Whatever tonal understatement exists here is set against passionate thought, equal parts humor and a wonder undercut by grief, as he reveals our complexities in these fine, distinctive poems"--Cleopatra Mathis.

The World in a Minute

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Lenhart, Gary. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Lenhart, Gary

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Lenhart, Gary. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

The Stamp of Class: Reflections on Poetry and Social Class

The Stamp of Class: Reflections on Poetry and Social Class

Light Heart

Light Heart

The Teachers and Writers Guide to William Carlos Willliams (Teachers & Writers Guides)

The Teachers & Writers Guide to Classic American Literature

One at a Time

Father And Son Night

Another Look: Selected Prose

The World in a Minute