The one hundred poems in this volume explore the formal as well as mimetic possibilities of the villanelle. Among subjects, music and art are prominent. There are cycles of poems in homage to Bach, Mozart, the renaissance German sculptor Tilman Riemenschneider, the late Joseph Brodsky, and one of the startling minds of the 20th century, Arthur Koestler. The poems aim at being an experience in sound, but they also invite us to think. Problems of perception are broached, and social and political comment is by no means absent. ...
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The one hundred poems in this volume explore the formal as well as mimetic possibilities of the villanelle. Among subjects, music and art are prominent. There are cycles of poems in homage to Bach, Mozart, the renaissance German sculptor Tilman Riemenschneider, the late Joseph Brodsky, and one of the startling minds of the 20th century, Arthur Koestler. The poems aim at being an experience in sound, but they also invite us to think. Problems of perception are broached, and social and political comment is by no means absent. Song and comment reach one of their peaks in "Exemplary Tale" (no.67), a poem on two young people in love, one a Croat, the other a Serb, talented opera singers and both dedicating themselves to working toward a more peaceful future.
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