Words by the Water

by William Jay Smith

Book Overview

William Jay Smith has been one of the most respected figures on the literary scene for more than half a century. Two of his thirteen poetry collections were finalists for the National Book Award, and the present volume is clearly the work of a true American master.

The volume opens with a poetic sequence, "The Atoll," concerning the tiny coral island of Palmyra during World War II. Finding himself on the narrow rim of an extinct volcano at...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0801890659
• ISBN13: 9780801890659
• Release Date: October 2008
• Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press
• Length: 96 Pages
• Weight: 0.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 6.1" x 9.2"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

An anthology of one of the great American minds of poetry, William Jay Smith

Chosen by the government as a consultant on poetry, "Words by the Water" is an anthology of one of the great American minds of poetry, William Jay Smith. Drawing on his massive experience as a man and a scholar of poetry, he presents some of his own, and fails to disappoint. "Words by the Water" is very much recommended reading for poetry fans. "Contemplation of Conspiracy":Where the table-leg projects into the yellow autumn/sunlight/like the poor premise of an argument,/the plotters gather, rotting wood at a creek's end/tirelessly planning the devastation of the spirit,/wiring the heart for a final explosion.//Where can they lead you but over the bridges of beetroot/into the country of spiders?//Do not follow them to their camp pitched in a cranny; bring your fist down hard on the table .../ and send them flying.