Frame Structures: Early Poems 1974-1979

By Susan Howe

Book Overview

Gathered here are versions of Hinge Picture (1974), Chanting at the Crystal Sea (1975), Cabbage Gardens (1979), and Secret History of the Dividing Line (1978) that differ in some respects from their original small-press editions. In a long preface, "Frame Structures," written especially for this volume, Howe suggests the autobiographical, familial, literary, and historical motifs that suffuse these early works. Taken together, the preface and poems reflect her rediscovered sense of her own beginnings as a poet, her movement from the visual arts into the iconography of the written word.

Susan Howe is a professor of English at the State University of New York--Buffalo. Most of her later poetry has been collected in The Nonconformist's Memorial (New Directions, 1993), The Europe of Trusts: Selected Poems (Sun & Moon Press, 1990), and Singularities (Wesleyan University Press, 1990). She is also the author of two landmark books of postmodernist criticism, The Birth-mark: unsettling the wilderness in American literary history (Wesleyan University Press, 1993) and My Emily Dickinson (North Atlantic Books, 1985).

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0811213226
• ISBN13: 9780811213226
• Release Date: June 1996
• Publisher: New Directions Publishing Corporation
• Length: 122 Pages
• Weight: 0.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Beyond compare

Although this volume contains her earlier works, Frame Structures is supplemented by a more recent essay that provides a wealth of information about her personal life, and in doing so enriches the poems within. Those unfamiliar with Susan Howe's work may find this to be a good introduction. Her unsurpassed ability to combine prose and poetry make this a delight for the eyes. What we see is a constancy of purpose, a dazzling command of language, and an impressive storytelling ability.