The lyric poems of In Beauty Bright, although marked by the same passion and swiftness as Gerald Stern's previous work, move into an area of knowledge-even wisdom-that reflects a long life of writing, teaching, and activism. They are poems of grief and anger, but the music is delicate and moving.

from "In Beauty Bright":

In beauty-bright and such it was like Blake's
lily and though an angel he looked absurd
dragging a lily out of a beauty-bright store
wrapped in tissue with a petal drooping,
nor was it useless-you who know it know
how useful it is-and how he would be dead
in a minute if he were to lose it though
how do you lose a lily?

About the Author
Gerald Stern (1925-2022), the author of nineteen volumes of poetry, was awarded the National Book Award, the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize, the National Jewish Book Award, and the Wallace Stevens Award, among many other honors.

Reviews
"[Stern's] style insinuates itself into your consciousness like a catchy tune, so that you find your thoughts echoing its rhythms, bopping from one to another, back and forth, like thought and language doing a jitterbug." -- Frank Wilson "Vivid and imagistic ... brilliant." "Gerald Stern takes his place at the head of our table as our grand Mensch of poetry."



Book Information
ISBN 9780393348941
Author Gerald Stern
Format Paperback
Page Count 128
Imprint WW Norton & Co
Publisher WW Norton & Co
Weight(grams) 107g
Dimensions(mm) 211mm * 140mm * 10mm