Jack Gilbert

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On Jack Gilbert
by J. Zimmerman

Jack Gilbert. Refusing Heaven. The Great Fires: Poems 1982-1992 Structure. Links. Books.

Refusing Heaven, by Jack Gilbert.

Jack Gilbert.

Jack Gilbert, author of four poetry books:

• 1962: Views of Jeopardy (1962 winner of the Yale Younger Poets series).
• 1982: Monolithos: Poems, 1962 and 1982.
• 1995: The Great Fires: Poems 1982-1992.
• 2005: Refusing Heaven.

Astonishingly, his work has not yet appeared in The Best American Poetry Series.

Monolithos: Poems, 1962 and 1982 (1982)

Monolithos: Poems, 1962 and 1982 is Jack Gilbert's 2nd poetry book.

Jack Gilbert credits only The New Yorker for previous publication (seven of the poems).

Two sections:

• ONE - 1962.
• TWO - [MONOLITHOS] - 1962. In this section, the poem "Leaving Monolithos" begins:

  They were cutting the spring barley by fistfuls when we came. Boys drove horses and mules over it all day in threshing pits under the powerful sky. ... Yesterday I burned my papers by the wall. This morning I look back at the lone, shuttered farmhouse. Sun rising over the volcano. At the full moon above the sea. Copyright © 1982 by Jack Gilbert.

  His preface is:

  MONOLITHOS means single stone, and refers to the small hill behind our house which gave the place we lived its name. It is the tip of a non-igneous stone island buried in debris when most of Thira blew apart 3,500 years ago. J.G. Copyright © 1982 by Jack Gilbert.

Refusing Heaven (2005)

Refusing Heaven is Jack Gilbert's 4th poetry book.

Jack Gilbert credits only The New Yorker for previous publication (seven of the poems).

Refusing Heaven has 86 poems, presented in a single flow without being grouped into sections. Likewise, each poem is a single stream, undivided into stanzas.

Lines are commonly between eight and twelve syllables, and without end-rhyme.

Most of the poems are less than a page long. The smaller poems (like the four-line "Truth" and the three-line "Metier") are necessary and sufficient.

The title poem is about two-thirds through the book.

Gilbert (like the Nordic Skalds a millennium ago and unlike most poets today) uses strong nouns and adjectives while using weak verbs (most frequently is).

The Great Fires: Poems 1982-1992 (1995)

The Great Fires: Poems 1982-1992 is Jack Gilbert's 3rd poetry book.

Contains 85 poems, presented in a single flow without being grouped into sections. Almost every poem is a single stream, undivided into stanzas.

A crystalline voice. Almost a tanka sensibility extended into a 1-page lyric poem.

Views of Jeopardy (1962)

Won the Yale Younger Poets award.

Nominated for the Pulitzer Prize.

Links.

• Laureate: the Poets Laureate of Britain
• Laureate: the Poets Laureate of the U.S.A.
• Best Poems by the Best Poets - Some Lists of Winners.

Books.

• Other Books of Poetry Form.

Related pages: Books of Poetry Form. Alphabetic list of poetry forms and related topics. Poetry Home. How to Write Poetry.

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