Stags leap is stunningly poignant sequence of poems that tells the story of a divorce, embracing strands of love, sex, sorrow, memory, and new freedom. See more ideas about animals beautiful, deer and beautiful creatures. Even when it s i who am escaped from, i am half on the side of the leaver. Now seventy, olds 72gsas still seems youthful in person her hair is long, her enthusiasms are evident. Poems as if languagelessness was a step up, in evolution, from the chatter of consciousness. It received much acclaim, including winning the pulitzer prize in poetry in 20. Eliot prize, carol ann duffy, chair of the final judging panel, said.
But i have to say that it is by far the weakest book in her oeuvre. Stags leap is no exception to poet sharon oldss unswerving devotion to total recall, recounting in often stirring fidelity the months and years following her divorce in 1997 after over. Blending theater and poetry in stags leap the martha. Stag s leap is the work of a mature, skilled poet who has dared to explore and reveal and make into art one of the most devastating experiences of adult life. Poems i want to relearn the intervals, to journey with a man among the thirds and fifths, augumented, diminshed, with a light touch, sforzando, rallentando, agitato, the usual. As she writes in the remarkable stags leap, when anyone escapes, my heart leaps up. Stags leap by sharon olds poetry of american identity, poetry of. Stags leap was their favourite wine, the logo a badlydrawn stag leaping off a cliff she compares him to her husband and adds. These poems are a considered exploration after the fact 15 years after the fact. Sep 07, 2012 in furious detail, the poems in stag s leap craft stations of grief and then move through them. Olds other honors include the national book circle critics award as well as grants from the national.
In this wise and intimate telling which carries us through the seasons when her marriage was ending sharon olds opens her heart to the reader, sharing the feeling of invisibility that comes when we are no longer standing in loves. In furious detail, the poems in stags leap craft stations of grief and then move through them. It follows the events leading up to and following the poets divorce, after a. Oct 10, 2012 sharon olds is one of the countrys bestselling poets. November 2014 kristina marie darling poetry stags leap by sharon olds. Located at the very heart of stags leap district, the stags leap winery, established in 1893, continues a proud winemaking heritage in the prestigious appellation that bears the winery name. In this wise and intimate new book, sharon olds tells the story of a divorce, embracing strands of love, sex, sorrow, memory, and new freedom.
The poems are very personal but powerful with elegant language and allusions to the classics. Stags leap is the work of a mature, skilled poet who has dared to explore and reveal and make into art one of the most devastating experiences of adult life. An intimate valley within the greater napa valley, stags leap is a place of natural beauty, storied buildings and gardens, a lively history, and a. We recently visited her in new hampshire where she read from her most recent book, stags leap. Her 2012 book of poems is a piercingly intimate, at times erotic, chronicle of betrayal, heartbreak, divorce and persistent longing, as its narrator travels through the collapse of a nearly 30year marriage and the wreckage that lies beyond it. Sharon olds stags leap is a book of poems about the authors divorce. Stags leap is stunningly poignant sequence of poems that tells the st. Sharon olds stags leap, in a collection of poems, comment on her husbands desertion after half a lifetime of marriage. Oldss propulsive poetic line and the magic of her imagery are as lively as ever, and there is a new range to the musicsometimes headlong, sometimes. In theatrical stags leap, poetry of pain leaps off the page. Stags leap by sharon olds stags leap knopf doubleday. Oldss next book, stags leap 2012, included poems that explored details of her recent divorce, and the book won both the pulitzer prize and britains t.
Even though much of stags leap was written close to the father, this doesnt discredit my thesis here. The loss was absolutely different, but the conveying of how much was felt to be lost she felt comfortable with. One of my favorite of the poems is last look which i dont seem to be able to edit into a neat excerpt. Emily auerbach, converted the poem tiny siren to prose which we read out loud. Olds, who teaches at nyu, won this years pulitzer prize in poetry for the book that eventually emerged. See more ideas about stags leap, house design and laundry room design. Stag s leap is stunningly poignant sequence of poems that tells the story of a divorce, embracing strands of love, sex, sorrow, memory, and new freedom. As she writes in the remarkable stag s leap, when anyone escapes, my heart leaps up. Sharon olds 1942 was born in san francisco and educated at stanford and columbia universities. Twitter facebook email a book of unflinching poems on the authors divorce that examine love, sorrow and the limits of selfknowledge. Stags leap is a collection of poems by the hugely talented sharon olds. As she carries us through the seasons when her marriage was ending, olds opens her heart to the reader, sharing the feeling of invisibility that comes when we are no longer standing in loves sight. Sometime in the early years of reading these poems of stags leap aloud, someone came up to me and said her husband had died and they were in love throughout their lives, together, but something in these poems was comforting to her. In this wise and intimate tellingwhich carries us through the seasons when her marriage was endingsharon olds opens her heart to the reader, sharing the feeling of invisibility that comes when we are no longer standing in.
If you are the publisher or author of this book and feel that the. She is the winner of the 20 pulitzer prize for poetry for her collection stags leap 2012. I didnt want to read this, as a close friend is currently experiencing similar circumstances, but im so glad i did. In this magnificent collection of linked narrative poems, stags leap, sharon olds explores both the grief and the sense of possibility inherent in a relationships end, presenting the reader with a makebelieve paradise and its uninhabitable beauty. Even when its i who am escaped from, i am half on the side of the leaver. It received much acclaim, including winning the pulitzer prize in. Olds other honors include the national book circle critics award as well as grants from the national endowment for the arts and the guggenheim foundation fellowship.
Tom payn telegraph olds, who has always had a gift for describing intimacy, has, in a sense, had these poems thrown at her by life and allowed them to take root. And if that sounds like a recipe for a billious rant, dont be fooled. Oct 20, 2012 stags leap was their favourite wine, the logo a badlydrawn stag leaping off a cliff she compares him to her husband and adds. Poet sharon olds reads from her book stags leap youtube. Satan says, her first book, was like a series of firecrackers, every poem a veritable explosion. In this wise and intimate tellingwhich carries us through the seasons when her marriage was endingsharon olds opens her heart to the reader, sharing the feeling of invisibility that comes when we are no longer.
We then read the poem as written and the difference was astounding. Stags leap by sharon olds poetry of american identity. Stags leap, a painfully detailed, frank, and ultimately charitable account of divorces grief. Olds put together this collection using poems from a 15year period, yet the book is consistent stylistically. It follows the events leading up to and following the poets divorce, after a thirtyyear marriage. Sharon oldss moving, insightful poems about the end of her marriage are her best yet, writes kate kellaway. Sep 04, 2012 stags leap is stunningly poignant sequence of poems that tells the story of a divorce, embracing strands of love, sex, sorrow, memory, and new freedom. Sharon olds, the winner of the 2012 ts eliot prize for stags leap, is the first female american poet to win the prize, and perhaps the most accessible poet of her generation. The poetic persistence of sharon olds read it forward.
Eliot prize in 2012, and the pulitzer prize for poetry in 20. In this wise and intimate new book, sharon olds tells the story of a divorce, embracing strands of. In this wise and intimate new book, sharon olds tells the story of a divorce. Even reading the sample on amazon had me welling up with tears. For all of us, quotes are a great way to remember a book. Olds s propulsive poetic line and the magic of her imagery are as lively as ever, and there is a new range to the music sometimes headlong, sometimes contemplative and deep. Sharon olds opens her heart to the reader, sharing the feeling of invisibility that comes when we are no longer standing in love. At moments the grief itself is refined into a macabre, courtly dance. Eliot poetry prize stags leap, sharon olds stunningly poignant new sequence of poems. Stags leap is a book of poetry written by sharon olds and published in 2012. Then the drawing on the label of our favorite red wine looks like my husband, casting himself off a cliff in his fervor to get free of me.
Her first book, satan says 1980, received the inaugural san francisco poetry. In this wise and intimate tellingwhich carries us through the seasons when her marriage was endingsharon olds opens her heart to the reader, sharing the feeling of invisibility that comes when we are no longer standing in loves sight. Stags leap by sharon olds penguin books new zealand. In this wise and intimate tellingwhich carries us through the seasons when her marriage was endingsharon olds opens her heart to the reader, sharing the feeling of invisibility that comes when we are no longer standing in love s sight.
We read stags leap in our tuesday morning book group. After her marriage of 26 years fell apart, olds wrote a book of poems that reads like a novel, one in which she learns to revel in the freedom of letting go and moving on, with courage, grace and joy. Stags leap by sharon olds poetry of american identity, poetry of america. Stags leap, devised and directed by nancy borgenicht, will be on the patricia neal stage at the marthas vineyard playhouse on friday, oct.
As she writes in the remarkable stags leap, when anyone escapes, my heart. In this wise and intimate tellingwhich carries us through the seasons when her marriage was endingsharon olds opens her heart to the reader, sharing the feeling of invisibility that comes when we are no longer standing in loves. Once i wrote the title poem of this new book, stags leap, it was clear to me that there would be a book centering on the end of a long marriage poems of divorce, loss, longing and healing. Her tone is rarely angry and the emotions are controlled, but the lengthy, difficult path is vibrantly communicated. In this wise and intimate new book, sharon olds tells the story of. Sharon olds is one of the countrys bestselling poets. I didnt love how the title poem, riffing on the name of a popular napa valley wine, captured the husband as a stag.