The Dream of a Common Language: Poems 1974-1977

Rich, Adrienne

ISBN 10: 0393045102 / ISBN 13: 9780393045109

Published by W.W. Norton and Co., New York, 1978

About this Item

Co-Winner of the National Book Award for Poetry in 1974, Rich, declined the National Medal of Arts, protesting the United States House of Representatives and Speaker Gingrich's vote to end funding for the National Endowment for the Arts. A clean, unmarked copy.

Seller Inventory # 12102

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Dream of a Common Language: Poems 1974-1977
• Publisher: W.W. Norton and Co., New York
• Publication Date: 1978
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0393045102
• ISBN 13: 9780393045109
• Binding: Trade Paperback
• Edition: Second printing.
• Condition: Very Good +
• Seller catalogs:
  • Poetry

About this title

Synopsis

"Rich's poems do not demand the willing suspension of disbelief. They demand belief, and it is a measure of her success as a poet that most of the time they get it. . . . The affirmation and the occasional moments of pure joy in these poems are quiet but fully earned."--Margaret Atwood, New York Times Book Review

About the Author

Widely read, widely anthologized, widely interviewed, and widely taught, Adrienne Rich (1929–2012) was for decades among the most influential writers of the feminist movement and one of the best-known American public intellectuals. She wrote two dozen volumes of poetry and more than a half-dozen of prose. Her constellation of honors includes a National Book Award for poetry for Tonight, No Poetry Will Serve, a MacArthur Foundation “genius” grant in 1994, and a National Book Award for poetry in 1974 for Diving Into the Wreck. That volume, published in 1973, is considered her masterwork. Ms. Rich’s other volumes of poetry include The Dream of a Common Language, A Wild Patience Has Taken Me This Far, An Atlas of the Difficult World, The School Among the Ruins, and Telephone Ringing in the Labyrinth. Her prose includes the essay collections On Lies, Secrets, and Silence; Blood, Bread, and Poetry; an influential essay, “Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence,” and the nonfiction book Of Woman Born, which examines the institution of motherhood as a socio-historic construct. In 2006, Rich was awarded the Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters by the National Book Foundation. In 2010, she was honored with The Griffin Trust for Excellence in Poetry's Lifetime Recognition Award.