The Insistence of Beauty

by Stephen Dunn

An evocation of beauty's often-surprising manifestations; even in the face of tragedy. "Beauty isn't nice. Beauty isn't fair;" So, in part, states an epigraph for this stunning new collection, his thirteenth, by the Pulitzer Prize winner for Poetry (2000). First traversing betrayal and loss, Stephen Dunn then moves to speak of new love, with its attendant pleasures and questioning. The title poem, perhaps emblematic of the book as a whole, is evocative of beauty's often surprising manifestations even in the light of tragedy; as on that terrible day "when those silver planes came out of the perfect blue." Because beauty jars us, makes us look twice, it is as startling as a good poem, and as insistent. Fortunately, it is never too late to search for the right words for what we've seen, felt, endured. With quiet authority Dunn enacts what it feels like to be a particular man at a particular juncture of his life; struggling not to deny, but to name, then rename.

Genres: Poetry, Literary Fiction, Contemporary

90 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

Stephen Dunn was born in New York City in 1939. He earned a B.A. in history and English from Hofstra University, attended the New School Writing Workshops, and finished his M.A. in creative writing at Syracuse University. Dunn has worked as a professional basketball player, an advertising copywriter, and an editor, as well as a professor of creative writing.

Dunn's books of poetry include Everything Else in the World (W. W. Norton, 2006); Local Visitations (2003); Different Hours (2000), winner of the 2001 Pulitzer Prize winner for poetry; Loosestrife (1996); New and Selected Poems: 1974-1994 (1994); Landscape at the End of the Century (1991); Between Angels (1989); Local Time (1986), winner of the National Poetry Series; Not Dancing (1984); Work & Love (1981); A Circus of Needs (1978); Full of Lust and Good Usage (1976); and Looking For Holes In the Ceiling 1974. He is also the author of Walking Light: Memoirs and Essays on Poetry (BOA Editions, 2001), and Riffs & Reciprocities: Prose Pairs (1998).

Dunn's other honors include the Academy Award for Literature, the James Wright Prize, and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the New Jersey State Council on the Arts. He has taught poetry and creative writing and held residencies at Wartburg College, Wichita State University, Columbia University, University of Washington, Syracuse University, Southwest Minnesota State College, Princeton University, and University of Michigan. Dunn is currently Richard Stockton College of New Jersey Distinguished Professor of Creative Writing and lives in Port Republic, New Jersey.

Reviews

[Edita · Rating 5 out of 5]

I should have been properly amazed,
the way anyone looking at a star
would be, realizing it was years away,
untouchable. Yet there it is, shining.
*
It's over. It's time for loss to build
its tower in the yard where you
are merely a spectator now.

Admit you'd like to find something
discarded or damaged, even gone,
and lift it back into the world.
*
Everything in my education said, no, go back,
and I went headlong into the flames.
*
We’re old enough
to know sorrow may visit
now and then, and that the world slides in

at will – ugly, dark, confident it belongs.
Nothing to do but let it
touch us, allow it to hurt, and remind.

[Ann Garth · Rating 1 out of 5]

The poems were beautiful. But also: I get it, Stephen, you had an affair and you don't feel bad about it because you love her and the sex is so great, and you want to tell me all about it, and anyways your first wife wasn't perfect either (and luckily now that you're divorced, you can write poems about things she didn't want you to share publicly). You have two kids with your first wife. Don't expect me to think of you as anything other than an asshole.

[Alyssa Rubin · Rating 2 out of 5]

not giving misogyny, no matter how well written, any positive review

[Anina · Rating 4 out of 5]

i loved this

[Suzi F. · Rating 4 out of 5]

The poems "Juarez" and "The House is Quiet" are amazing poems, but there are a few others, both of "The Answers" which just are not that good.

[Conor Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

The more personal the poems the more I liked them. Two poems with the one title - The Answers - were searing in their anguish and their arrangement. Without being confessional poetry in the worst sense, these poems confess a love life changing direction. In one of my favourite poems - The Past - a distinction is made:

Nothing in nature is a metaphor.
Every thing is. I thought both thoughts.

This book is at its best when both thoughts are balanced. The introduction of political and historical matters don't quite gell for me. Nor does the use of a formal stuctures like the villanelle. When the metaphors are loose rather than pointed, the poems work best. At times the beauty is too insistent, but there is enough beauty (and heartache) to make this an interesting collection.

[Skdecker · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't read much poetry. This one has a few images that stayed with me, but not a masterwork. May reflect more on the reader than the poet.

[Stephen Lamb · Rating 5 out of 5]

Those arrangements on the plate: still lifes
designed to disappear.
In a certain mood, one could say you provided
experiences designed to disappear.
From Good Dinners

[Wilbur · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love his work.

[C · Rating 5 out of 5]

I feel a bit strange for giving out so many 5-star ratings so far....

But I absolutely loved this collection. I can't really think of a better meditation on not only beauty, but love and destruction and the intertwined reasons for each. I truly recommend this one to my friends who don't typically read a lot of poetry. I think many of you would find yourselves liking it (I'm looking particularly at you, Tony and Georgette).

"Plain" language that manages to bring across a much deeper meaning.

[Julene · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the second book I've read by Stephen Dunn. I enjoy his writing and enjoyed this book. What I especially like is his dialogue poems. In a talk I attended on the use of contradictions in poetry to increase tension, Stephen Dunn was used as one of the examples and now I want to read his book of essays. He said, "A poem must contain the shadow of its affirmation." He also said he argues with himself when he composes and that he resists where the poem wants to go. He is a very skilled poet who I want to learn from.

[Inverted · Rating 3 out of 5]

Strong sense of narrative, simple language, and a good number of eager, brilliant lines scattered here and there. Dunn is especially good with endings. They are often clean, elegant, and open, just the way I like them. For example:

Four starlings
on a telephone wire, an oak's bare branches—
no, not architecture, only a kind of evidence.
(from Winter)

The "The Answers" poems, however, are baaaaad. Please, peel them off your copy.

[Alina Borger · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked a lot of the poems in this book--enough to buy it, so my three-star-rating is not to denigrate the book in any way. But I found the more I read, the more distant I felt from the speaker, and I didn't like that. I stayed with it and am happy to be uncomfortable as I read a poem (that's half the point, right?)--but I wouldn't necessarily re-read many of the poems in this book, which is my measure of a five-star book.

[Kasandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really well-done, understated poems that in their clarity and apparent simplicity utter truths you feel you not only have known but also have right on the tip of your tongue, and Dunn has kindly reminded you as well as spoken them for you. His poems on cheating in a marriage or serious relationship are some of the best I've read, they make you both detest and empathize with the speaker at the same time, quite a feat. The title poem, referencing 9/11, is fantastic. Recommended.

[Georgette · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's been a long time since I've read poetry, and admittedly I may be out of practice. I liked it ... There were a handful of standouts, and overall I enjoyed the images. The thought of the rescue dog has stayed with me for more than a day now, and I'm not sure I want to shake it yet...

[Kent · Rating 4 out of 5]

I appreciate the sentiment, and the complexity of the emotion surrounding these poems. How is one supposed to leave behind something that was taken for granted, but was still dear. The narratives here are always engaging and honest.

[Greg · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like Dunn a lot and this collection was not a disappointment.

[Jennifer Sullivan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Any of Stephen Dunn's work is wonderful. His writing never gets old.

[jim · Rating 5 out of 5]

I continue to be blown away by Dunn's insightful poetry. This one, about the continuous failures and victories of love, could break your heart or at least shake you up.

[Я. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Absolutely brutal stuff.

[Annemarlene Risch]

I like his earlier book better.

[Peter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Truth

[Richard Spilman · Rating 4 out of 5]

More direct than some of Dunn's poetry and at times, for my taste, a little too spare, but very effective and affecting.

[Kirsten · Rating 1 out of 5]

Sorry but this collection was about as vanilla as it gets.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoy all of Stephen Dunn's work!

[Lisa]

I've loved some of his other work, but this collection just wasn't my cup of tea.