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Poetry in Perilous Times
by Tracy K. Smith
The Pulitzer Prize–winning poet reveals how poetry is a powerful tool of connection and understanding in a fractured world.
Drawing on deep passion and personal experience, former US Poet Laureate Tracy K. Smith demystifies the art form that has too often been mischaracterized as "inaccessible," "irrelevant," or "intimidating." She argues that poetry is rooted in fundamentally human qualities innate to our capacities to love, dream, question, and engage across diverse cultures and backgrounds. Lifting the veil on her own creative process, Smith shows us how reading and writing poetry allows us to confront life's many uncertainties and losses, to build camaraderie with strangers, and to understand ourselves. She grounds readers in the technical elements of the craft and provides close readings of the works of contemporary poets such as Joy Harjo, Danez Smith, and Francisco Márquez, alongside classic poems by Dickinson, Keats, Millay, and others. By reimaging and reexamining the age-old art form, Fear Less is a warm invitation to find meaning, consolation, and hope through poetry.
"A spirited literary journey." —Kirkus Reviews
"Fear Less is a great inhale of much-needed air. Smith has once again shown us that she is both brilliant and tender as she explores the ways poems can change us. This is a must-have book." ―Ada Limón, 24th U. S. Poet Laureate and author of The Hurting Kind
"I can think of no more inviting, generous, thoughtful, curious, and serious a guide into poetry than Tracy K. Smith. Fear Less is a book I will share with the people in my life who love poetry, and the people in my life who might." ―Ross Gay, author of The Book of Delights
This information about Fear Less was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Tracy K. Smith is a professor at Harvard University and a Susan S. and Kenneth L. Wallach Professor at Harvard Radcliffe Institute. She served as the 22nd US poet laureate and is the author of five poetry collections, including the Pulitzer Prize winner Life on Mars.
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