Real Sofistikashun: Essays on Poetry and Craft

Tony Hoagland left us quite a legacy of first-class analysis of poetry and poets. The only other in this category is the fabulous Jane Hirshfield (Ten Windows). Unlike some highly academic critics who will fry your synapses, and at least one (un-named) who obviously has an axe grinding agenda, Tony Hoagland is the real expert delighting us with pure analysis---always hard to maintain for hundreds of pages, but anyone with a mind fired by curiosity and desire to learn the mechanics of not just poetry but great poetry, would do themselves a disservice to miss this book, and there won't be anymore from Hoagland who left us in late 2018. His humorously named, REAL SOFISTIKASHUN is a timeless gem.

This was my beginning of understanding what poetry is and how to read it and what it is all about basically. I knew as much about poetry as NASCAR racing before reading this which is nothing, what with me having a masters in brit lit and and all I felt a bit foolish but I forded ahead and and got my feet on dry land with the help of Mr. H. I highly recommend it if poetry scares you silly or is totally opaque as it was to me. Can't thank the fellow enough for writing it. I had memorized a lot of poetry in the hopes that it would take but am now firmly convinced that a good teacher is necessary and Tony Hoagland will mesmerize, entertain and remove the veils that afflict you.

Truly enjoyed the deep understanding and experience that the writer conveys on the subject of poetry.

I have a copy - this is gift for a friend - unpretentious writing and opinion

His wry manner never denigrates any of the approaches to and styles of poetry he looks at. As close as I've found to a covering of most of the widely different poetics being practiced until yesterday. I wish he'd write it again and double the length and depth of every chapter - and the quotings from current poetries, which he does so well.

Tony Hoagland is the real deal, and tucked into these pages are words from the frontlines of American poetry from someone engaged in fighting the battles for understanding what is really going on out there in the too often arcane world of American poetry. Get it on your self ASAP -- there is gold in these essays that will help any poet writing today to better understand their craft and it's position in the landscape of journals and publishing -- this book is golden indeed!

Fantastic book. I only wish I could read poetry with as much depth and subtlety as Tony Hoagland. It's like he is creating ripples of meaning and connection with each essay. I would love to have tea and a poetry chat with him....Tony, what's your schedule?

Tony Hoagland is fantastic reading. Following his lively thinking is wonderful fare for the thoughtful. He opens so many doors in a poem. It becomes a house rather than a room... and sometimes a whole hotel.

This is a fantastic book on the mechanics, strategies and practice of writing poetry by the American teacher, poet and critic Tony Hoagland (author of, for example  What Narcissism Means to Me: Selected Poems  and Sweet Ruin (The Brittingham prize in poetry) ), who balances rigour and acuity with a warm and humourous tone and style. It's a book you can read from beginning to end, or, as I've done, sample according to your current interests. For example, there's an excellent chapter on metaphor, "Tis backed like a weasel: the slipperiness of metaphor", which looks at how any metaphor has lateral meanings that slip away from the central point -- "a sahara of snow" conveys vastness, but also grittiness and heat. "Negative capability: How to talk mean and influence people" examines the role of meanness in poetry as a vitalising force. "Altitudes, a Homemade Taxonomy: Image, Diction and Rhetoric" attempts to taxonomise poets and poetry according to the three categories it sets itself, then looks at hybrids. "On Disproportion" is a fascinating glimpse into the way different poets have been either neat and tidy or "disproportionate" and wild. For anyone writing too tidily, or too restrained, it's a great antidote. His examples here are William Carlos Williams (tidy) and Wallace Stevens (wild). This is one of the most readable and enjoyable books on contemporary poetics I've looked at (others would be Adam Kirsch's excellent The Modern Element The Modern Element: Essays on Contemporary Poetry , though this is more straightforwardly analytic rather than practice-oriented, and  The Shape of the Dance: Essays, Interviews and Digressions the posthumous collection of writing by Michael Donaghy) and it deserves a place on any poet's bookshelf -- or among the books of any committed reader of poetry. One extra pleasure for a UK reader is that Hoagland's examples are often contemporary American poets not necessarily known this side of the pond, so Real Sofistikashun operates as a useful showcase, too. Paul Goodman and Tess Gallagher spring to mind. I can't praise this book too highly, especially for any working or aspiring (or both) poets out there. What Narcissism Means to Me: Selected PoemsSweet Ruin (The Brittingham prize in poetry)The Modern Element: Essays on Contemporary PoetryThe Shape of the Dance: Essays, Interviews and Digressions

I bought this after hearing Tony Hoagland talk at the Aldeburgh poetry festival, because he was a good speaker. I will definitely be buying his other book of criticism after reading this one: a clear and engaging read with plenty of close readings.