The Evolution of the Flightless Bird (Signed First Edition)

KENNEY, Richard

ISBN 10: 0300031521 / ISBN 13: 9780300031522

Published by Yale University Press, New Haven, CT, 1984

About this Item

First edition. Softcover. 68 pages. Simultaneous paperback issue of this book of poems that was part of the Yale series of Younger Poets. Foreword by James Merrill. A very good plus copy in wrappers with some foxing and a faint impression to the front free endpaper from a paperclip that is affixed to a loose sheet with a poem. Signed and warmly inscribed by Kenney on the title page to poet Linda Pastan in the year of publication. A nice association copy.

Seller Inventory # 157736

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Evolution of the Flightless Bird (Signed First Edition)
• Publisher: Yale University Press, New Haven, CT
• Publication Date: 1984
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0300031521
• ISBN 13: 9780300031522
• Binding: Soft cover
• Edition: First Edition.
• Weight: 2 pounds
• Signed: Signed
• Seller catalogs:
  • Poetry

About this title

Synopsis

Richard Kenney's The Evolution of the Flightless Bird, the winning volume in the 1983 Yale Series of Younger Poets competition, was selected from among 650 entries in this annual competition.  All of one species whose origin is the sonnet, Kenney's poems ring many changes through that form, reflecting, as they do, a personal evolution in the poet's life. "The Hours of the Day"―the first of four chapters―is a long meditative sequence set in Vermont; here the square-shaped poems become the crown glass windowpanes of the farmhouse itself. "First Poems" follows next, a group of eight lyrics, ending with the poem that titles the book. "Heroes," a narrative quartet, with two poems from history and two from life, concerns itself with the shaping of all tales, from source to first telling. Finally, "Notes from Greece" chronicles certain thoughts and adventures there, notably a visit to the Byzantine monastic communities that ring the peninsula of Mt. Athos. Born in Glens Falls, New York, in 1948, Richard Kenney received his B.A. from Dartmouth College in 1970. His poems have appeared in numerous magazines, including The New Yorker, The Atlantic Monthly, Hudson Review, American Scholar, Poetry, The Yale Review, Carolina Quarterly, and New England Review.

Review

Accident
The Battle Of Valcour Island
Colloquy At Sawmill
The Evolution Of The Flightless Bird
Five Grotesques
Henry Adams And The Birthday
The Hours Of The Day
In April
La Brea
Notes From Greece
Sailing
St. George's Channel
The Uilleann Pipes
Y Gododdin
-- Table of Poems from Poem Finder®