{"product_id":"taking-shape-carmina-figurata-paperback","title":"Taking Shape - carmina figurata - Paperback","description":"\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cp style=\"text-align: right;\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/reportcopyrightinfringement.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eReport copyright infringement\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eJan D. Hodge\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAn eclectic mix of shapes and subjects populate \u003cem\u003eTaking Shape\u003c\/em\u003e--Jan D. Hodge's full-length collection of \u003cem\u003ecarmina figurata\u003c\/em\u003e (sometimes called shaped poems, pattern poetry, or figure poems). Hodge's many masterpieces include depictions of a saxophone, a Madonna and Child, a combination piano\/guillotine, and other silhouettes of amazing difficulty and detail. These poems are not only visually stunning, they are also sonically beautiful, and retain a transcendent freedom while conforming to both illustrative and metrical constraints. \u003cem\u003eTaking Shape\u003c\/em\u003e is a visual feast of inspired poetry.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003ePRAISE FOR \u003ci\u003eTAKING SHAPE: \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eAre not all printed formal poems shaped poems? The sonnet, the hymn, the sestina, and the ghazal all have characteristic shapes rather like boxes that confine their subjects. In Jan D. Hodge's \u003cem\u003eTaking Shape\u003c\/em\u003e the subjects have burst from their cages and confront us immediately with what they are. Then the words they are made of can reveal their inner beings. The long closure of \"Spring\" describes the best way to read these poems. I have long known what prayer is, but I never knew what one looked like until I read \"Madonna and Child.\"\u003cbr\u003e -- Fred Chappell, author of \u003cem\u003eThe Fred Chappell Reader\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eHere is a perfect matching of shapes and poetry. Through a wide-ranging array of subjects and tones, Hodge's mastery of language within such challenging constraints is truly impressive. Syntax and rhythm, metaphor and symbol (see for instance \"The One That Got Away\" or \"The Lesson of the Snow\"), conversational snippets and quatrains, are surprisingly nuanced. Even the occasional poems--wedding, elegy, Valentine's day, Halloween, Christmas, an early morning poetry reading--find new things to say and striking ways to say them. These poems reward reading again and again.\u003cbr\u003e -- Robert J. Conley, author of \u003cem\u003eMountain Windsong\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eJan D. Hodge is the master par excellence of \u003cem\u003ecarmina figurata.\u003c\/em\u003e In \u003cem\u003eTaking Shape\u003c\/em\u003e you'll see such word-pictures as the Chinese ideogram for spring; a harpsichord poised before a guillotine; a still life with quill pen and ink bottle, T-square and drafting triangle. More amazing still, Hodge forms many of the intricate images with metered language--in one case in medieval alliterative verse! In a poem about baseball Hodge writes, \"forgiveness\/ is the best\/ we dare hope for in this bruised world\/ the thinnest\/ chance that lets us somehow\/ slide home free\"; here \"only by grace . . . can we be safe.\" Hodge knows of grace, his poems are full of grace, and \u003cem\u003eTaking Shape, \u003c\/em\u003elike grace itself, is a gift of utter beauty.\u003cbr\u003e -- Vince Gotera, Editor, \u003cem\u003eNorth American Review\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eABOUT THE AUTHOR: \u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Having grown up in a letterpress print shop in small town Michigan, Jan D. Hodge received his BA and MA degrees from the University of Michigan and his PhD from the University of New Mexico, where he wrote his dissertation on Charles Dickens. He taught at Rockford (Illinois) College and at Morningside College in Sioux City, Iowa. His poems have appeared in \u003cem\u003eIambs \u0026amp; Trochees, American Arts Quarterly, Defined Providence, \u003c\/em\u003e and many other print and online journals. \u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 80\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 0.17 x 9.25 x 7.5 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eIllustrated:\u003c\/strong\u003e Yes\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e August 31, 2015\u003c\/div\u003e\n            ","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48290453324025,"sku":"9781927409565","price":20.47,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0789\/2782\/3097\/files\/R_3I-sWBTC9781927409565.webp?v=1776283709","url":"https:\/\/bookscloud.io\/products\/taking-shape-carmina-figurata-paperback","provider":"BooksCloud Book Dropshipping","version":"1.0","type":"link"}