The Cell

by Lyn Hejinian

Lyn Hejinian is one of today's most esteemed and widely read poets. Her poetic autobiography, My Life, has gained an almost legendary reputation, and is taught in many university and college courses. The Cell, her latest Poetic sequence, was written over a period of her life from October 6, 1986, to January 21, 1989, a time of exploration of the relation of the self to the world, of the objective "person" to the subjective being "as private as my arm." As the title suggests, "the Cell" of this work connotes several things, some biological life, imprisonment, closure, and circulation. But it is just the relationships and oppositions of these that Hejinian searches out in a poetry that, like her previous work, displays a magical blend of logic and contradiction, of narrative impetus stopped in its tracks by aphoristic wit.
These poems will continue to establish her as the inheritor of the rich and intense language of American writers such as Gertrude Stein and Emily Dickinson.

Genres: Poetry

217 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 1992

About the author

Lyn Hejinian (born May 17, 1941) is an American poet, essayist, translator and publisher. She is often associated with the Language poets and is well known for her landmark work My Life (Sun & Moon, 1987, original version Burning Deck, 1980), as well as her book of essays, The Language of Inquiry (University of California Press, 2000).

(from Wikipedia)

Reviews

[Restfulsimulation · Rating 5 out of 5]

“The way gulls pump themselves up in the air they look like they’re waving a thick magazine left in the sun”

[emma · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved her poetry. I'm not a huge fan of poetry but some of her lines have me chills. Would definitely recommend to anyone who enjoys good poetry!