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Cold Pastoral

Poems
4.03 goodreads logo

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( 119 ratings, 13 reviews)
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
Cold Pastoral is a searing and urgent collection of poems by Rebecca Dunham that blends lyric and documentary forms to confront the devastating impacts of manmade disasters. Through powerful poetry incorporating interviews and government documents, the collection addresses tragedies such as the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion, Hurricane Katrina, and the Flint water crisis. Dunham’s work adopts pastoral and elegiac traditions to explore a landscape profoundly damaged by human actions, revealing the intersecting themes of moral witness and artistic expression with striking clarity.
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Format: Paperback / softback
$4700

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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

Ideal for readers interested in contemporary poetry that engages with environmental and social issues, as well as those who appreciate innovative verse blending documentary elements with lyrical expression. Suitable for thoughtful poetry enthusiasts and those seeking art that reflects urgent cultural concerns.

Book Hero thinking about your next read

A searing, urgent collection of poems centered around the Deepwater Horizon oil spill

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

A searing, urgent collection of poems that brings the lyric and documentary together in unparalleled ways—unmasking and examining the spectre of manmade disaster.

The explosion on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig. Hurricane Katrina. The Flint water crisis. Thousands dead, lives destroyed, and a natural world imperilled by human choices. This is the litany of our time—and these are the events that Rebecca Dunham traces, passionately and brilliantly, in Cold Pastoral.

In poems that incorporate interviews and excerpts from government documents and other sources—poems that adopt the pastoral and elegiac traditions in a landscape where "I can't see the bugs; I don't hear the birds"—Dunham finds the intersection between moral witness and shattering art.

Experimental and incisive, Cold Pastoral is a collection that reveals what poetry can—and, perhaps, should—be, reflecting ourselves and our world back with gorgeous clarity.

Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

Critics praise Cold Pastoral as a profound elegy and polemic that challenges readers while documenting ongoing crises. The Los Angeles Review highlights its uncertain yet compelling poetic voice, stating it "implicates poet, reader, and corporation alike." Juliana Spahr commends how the book revises the pastoral tradition to reflect contemporary environmental disasters without abandoning the lyric form, underscoring its timely and moving power.

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Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781571314789

Publisher: Milkweed Editions

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 27 April 2017

Country: United States

Imprint: Milkweed Editions

Illustration: Illustrations

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Width: 139.0mm

Height: 215.0mm

Weight: 250g

Pages: 80

About the Author

Rebecca Dunham is the author of three previous books of poetry: Glass Armonica, winner of Milkweed Editions' 2013 Lindquist & Vennum Prize; The Flight Cage; and The Miniature Room, winner of the T.S. Eliot Prize. She has been the recipient of an NEA Fellowship and was the 20056 Jay C. and Ruth Halls Fellow in Poetry at the Wisconsin Institute for Creative Writing. She is a professor of English at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and lives in Madison, Wisconsin.

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