Versed
Encyclopedia
Versed is a book of poetry written by Rae Armantrout
and published by Wesleyan University Press
in 2009 (see 2009 in poetry
). It won the National Book Critics Circle Award
for Poetry and the 2010 Pulitzer Prize
for Poetry.
board member James Marcus called Versed a collection of "vigilant, often beautiful poems [that] seem to reset the reader’s mental instrumentation—what Armantrout calls the 'whirligig
/ of attention, / the figuring and / reconfiguring / of charges / among orbits / (obits) / that has taken forever.'"
According to the Pulitzer Prize Board, Versed is a "book striking for its wit and linguistic inventiveness, offering poems that are often little thought-bombs detonating in the mind long after the first reading."
Rae Armantrout
Rae Armantrout is an American poet generally associated with the Language Poets. Armantrout was born in Vallejo, California but grew up in San Diego. She has published ten books of poetry and has also been featured in a number of major anthologies...
and published by Wesleyan University Press
Wesleyan University Press
Wesleyan University Press is a university press that is part of Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut. The Press is currently directed by Suzanna Tamminen, a published poet and essayist...
in 2009 (see 2009 in poetry
2009 in poetry
Nationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature .-Events:* January 5 – The Turkish government announces it will posthumously restore the citizenship it had stripped from influential poet Nazim Hikmet, a Marxist who died in 1963 as an exile in the Soviet...
). It won the National Book Critics Circle Award
National Book Critics Circle Award
The National Book Critics Circle Award is an annual award given by the National Book Critics Circle to promote the finest books and reviews published in English....
for Poetry and the 2010 Pulitzer Prize
2010 Pulitzer Prize
The 2010 Pulitzer Prizes were awarded on Monday, April 12, 2010. In journalism, The Washington Post won four awards while The New York Times won three. For the first time, an online source, ProPublica, won in what had previously been the sole province of print. A musical, Next to Normal, won the...
for Poetry.
Awards
As part of a lead-in to their awards announcement, NBCCNational Book Critics Circle
The National Book Critics Circle is an American tax-exempt organization for active book reviewers. Its flagship is the National Book Critics Circle Award....
board member James Marcus called Versed a collection of "vigilant, often beautiful poems [that] seem to reset the reader’s mental instrumentation—what Armantrout calls the 'whirligig
Whirligig
A whirligig is an object that spins or whirls, or has at least one member that spins or whirls. Whirligigs are also known as pinwheels, buzzers, comic weathervanes, gee-haws, spinners, whirlygigs; whirlijig; whirlyjig; whirlybird; or plain whirly. Whirligigs are most commonly powered by the wind,...
/ of attention, / the figuring and / reconfiguring / of charges / among orbits / (obits) / that has taken forever.'"
According to the Pulitzer Prize Board, Versed is a "book striking for its wit and linguistic inventiveness, offering poems that are often little thought-bombs detonating in the mind long after the first reading."
External links
- Versed from Wesleyan University PressWesleyan University PressWesleyan University Press is a university press that is part of Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut. The Press is currently directed by Suzanna Tamminen, a published poet and essayist...
- Author/Poet Rae Armantrout 10/17/09 from YouTubeYouTubeYouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
, reading from Versed at Litquake PubCrawl, San Francisco