The Poet S Voice

A study of ancient Greek poetry analysing the question: what is a poet?

How did the human mind evolve and how does it emerge, again and again, in individual lives? In The Poet’s Voice in the Making of Mind, Russell Meares presents a fascinating inquiry into the origin of mind. He proposes that the way in which mind, or self, evolved, may resemble the way it emerges in childhood play and that a poetic, analogical style of thought is a biological necessity, essential to bringing to fruition the achievement of the human mind. Taking a fresh look at the language used in psychotherapy, he shows how language, and conversation in particular, is central to the development and maintenance of self. His theory incorporates the ideas from William James, Hughlings, Jackson, Janet, Hobson, Gerald Edelman, Wolf Singer, Vygotsky and others. It is illuminated by extracts from literary artists such as Wallace Stevens, W.S. Merwin, Virginia Woolf, Joseph Conrad and Shakespeare. Encompassing psychotherapy; psychoanalysis; evolution; child development; literary criticism; philosophy; studies of mind and consciousness, The Poet’s Voice in the Making of Mind is an engaging, ground-breaking and thought-provoking work that will appeal to psychotherapists and psychoanalysts, as well as anyone interested in the emergence of mind and self.

*WINNER OF THE T. S. ELIOT PRIZE 2015* *WINNER OF THE SUNDAY TIMES / PETERS FRASER + DUNLOP YOUNG WRITER OF THE YEAR AWARD 2015* *SHORTLISTED FOR THE FORWARD PRIZE FOR BEST FIRST COLLECTION 2015* There is a Chinese proverb that says: ‘It is more profitable to raise geese than daughters.’ But geese, like daughters, know the obligation to return home. In her exquisite first collection, Sarah Howe explores a dual heritage, journeying back to Hong Kong in search of her roots. With extraordinary range and power, the poems build into a meditation on hybridity, intermarriage and love – what meaning we find in the world, in art, and in each other. Crossing the bounds of time, race and language, this is an enthralling exploration of self and place, of migration and inheritance, and introduces an unmistakable new voice in British poetry.

Offering a variety of advice for tapping into your creative voice, sharing your work online, and honing your writing skills, You/Poet shows you how to express yourself creatively through the art of poetry. You may think that writing poetry requires a specific set of skills. You may have read books on writing poetry that were stuffy and full of strict rules and regulations. But You/Poet proves that all you need to be a poet is the desire to share your inner thoughts and emotions with the world. Let HerHeartPoetry—an online poetry community, Instagram, digital zine, and poetry press—take you on a journey of self-discovery and surprise, and show you how to embrace the world of writing poetry with arms wide open. Writing poetry is an act of bravery. It’s just you, your thoughts and feelings, and the words you choose to express them. You/Poet can help you do just that. With encouragement and advice on poetry writing basics, how to identify your unique creative voice, and prompts and exercises to help you channel your thoughts and emotions through writing, this all-in-one guide will help you share your talent with the world.

Poetry and Voice, with a foreword by Helen Dunmore, is a book of essays which fuses critical and creative treatments of poetic voice. Some contributors focus on critical explorations of voice in work by poets such as John Ashbery, Simon Armitage, Eavan Boland, Carol Ann Duffy, Arun Kolatkar, Don McKay and Dragica Rajčić, and on the musical voices of the lyric tradition and of poetry itself. Vicki Feaver, Jane Griffiths, Philip Gross, Waqas Khwaja, Lesley Saunders and David Swann reflect on their own poetic processes of composition, and the development of the voices of childhood, old age, migration, landscape, bilinguality, and imprisonment. Laurel Cohen-Pfister and Tatjana Bijelić examine the nature of poetic voice in exile, the need for fresh voices after war and new spaces in which poetic voices can be heard. In this international collection, the contributors give rare and generous insights into inner poetic processes and external effects. They engage with artistic debates about developing, losing and appropriating voice in poetry and approach the question of what is ‘finding a voice’ in poetry from multiple angles. The book will interest literary critics, poets, lecturers, and undergraduate and postgraduate students of literature, poetry and creative writing.

A major work by this prominent Caribbean author and philosopher, available for the first time in English