What do you think?
Rate this book
The Engendering Flood
Author s
The Engendering Flood is the first book in an autobiographical epic poem entitled Dust Shall Be the Serpent s Food. It consists of four cantos, the first being called 'In Media Res,' so named after the classic formula for the epic as it has come down to us from the Latin and Greek tradition. The words mean simply 'in the midst of things,' but more aptly have come to specify 'the low point in the fortunes of the hero.' For me that point was certainly the funeral of my father at the close of World War II in 1945, and so I have begun it.
The epic formula then calls for flashback to delineate how the hero got to that point. Thus Canto II, entitled 'Skald,' after the Scandinavian minstrels or bards of the Viking period, relates the life of my father, an immigrant Norwegian musician. Canto III, 'Hidden Life,' narrates the humble origin of my mother on a Minnesota farm in the last century, how she met my father and how they fell in love. Canto IV, 'The Hollow Years,' tells of the estrangement of the lovers, their eventual reconciliation, marriage, procreation, and arrival in Selma, California, where I grew up. Thus far, my immediate lineal background. Book two will begin my personal odyssey.
W.E.
The Engendering Flood is the first book in an autobiographical epic poem entitled Dust Shall Be the Serpent s Food. It consists of four cantos, the first being called 'In Media Res,' so named after the classic formula for the epic as it has come down to us from the Latin and Greek tradition. The words mean simply 'in the midst of things,' but more aptly have come to specify 'the low point in the fortunes of the hero.' For me that point was certainly the funeral of my father at the close of World War II in 1945, and so I have begun it.
The epic formula then calls for flashback to delineate how the hero got to that point. Thus Canto II, entitled 'Skald,' after the Scandinavian minstrels or bards of the Viking period, relates the life of my father, an immigrant Norwegian musician. Canto III, 'Hidden Life,' narrates the humble origin of my mother on a Minnesota farm in the last century, how she met my father and how they fell in love. Canto IV, 'The Hollow Years,' tells of the estrangement of the lovers, their eventual reconciliation, marriage, procreation, and arrival in Selma, California, where I grew up. Thus far, my immediate lineal background. Book two will begin my personal odyssey.
W.E.
- GenresPoetry
80 pages, Hardcover
First published October 1, 1990
1 person is currently reading
8 people want to read
About the author
William Everson
138 books9 followersAlso known as Brother Antoninus, William Everson was an American poet of the Beat Generation, San Francisco Renaissance and was also a literary critic and small press printer.
Everson registered as an anarchist and a pacifist with his draft board, in compliance with the 1940 draft bill. In 1943, he was sent to a Civilian Public Service (CPS) work camp for conscientious objectors in Oregon. In the camp at Waldport, Oregon, with other poets, artists and actors, he founded a fine-arts program, in which the CPS men staged plays and poetry-readings and learned the craft of fine printing. During his time as a conscientious objector, Everson completed The Residual Years, a volume of poems that launched him to national fame.
Everson joined the Catholic Church in 1948 and soon became involved with the Catholic Worker Movement in Oakland, California. He took the name "Brother Antoninus" when he joined the Dominican Order in 1951 in Oakland. A colorful literary and counterculture figure, he was subsequently nicknamed the "Beat Friar." He left the Dominicans in 1969 to embrace a growing sexual awakening, and married a woman many years his junior. The 1974 poem Man-Fate explores this transformation. Everson was stricken by Parkinson's Disease in 1972, and its effects on him became a powerful element in his public readings.
Everson registered as an anarchist and a pacifist with his draft board, in compliance with the 1940 draft bill. In 1943, he was sent to a Civilian Public Service (CPS) work camp for conscientious objectors in Oregon. In the camp at Waldport, Oregon, with other poets, artists and actors, he founded a fine-arts program, in which the CPS men staged plays and poetry-readings and learned the craft of fine printing. During his time as a conscientious objector, Everson completed The Residual Years, a volume of poems that launched him to national fame.
Everson joined the Catholic Church in 1948 and soon became involved with the Catholic Worker Movement in Oakland, California. He took the name "Brother Antoninus" when he joined the Dominican Order in 1951 in Oakland. A colorful literary and counterculture figure, he was subsequently nicknamed the "Beat Friar." He left the Dominicans in 1969 to embrace a growing sexual awakening, and married a woman many years his junior. The 1974 poem Man-Fate explores this transformation. Everson was stricken by Parkinson's Disease in 1972, and its effects on him became a powerful element in his public readings.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!