"Boox" and "Ariel Redux

1) Why books of poetry instead of individual poems? What is the value of a project book versus a collection of poems? What are the advantages and disadvantages of each, and how do poets create books that are tied together?

2) The first “article” that I looked at was actually a blog post titled “Boox” from a poet named Joel Brouwer. He looked at the idea of books of poetry that have a gimmick: a way to draw readers in and make them keep reading. He also questions the value of this ploy, asking whether the poems in a collection should be able to stand on their own or not. He discusses the potential value of both figuring out a theme and sticking with it and the value of writing good individual poems, whether the collection ends up feeling like a grab bag or not. The second article, “Ariel Redux,” by Meghan O’Rourke, specifically discusses the two versions of Sylvia Plath’s Ariel manuscript. From her perspective, Hughes fulfilled the role of a good editor, cutting away the fluff and giving more of what the book of poems needed from the poems that Plath herself had not included. Though Plath was saving the new poems for a new book, O’Rourke points out that there is no evidence that she would not have eventually revised the book to include the new poems. She also discusses the different narrative paths that each version of the book has. She decides that Hughes’ Ariel is a better book of poems than Plath’s.

3) “Boox” frames the discussion of gimmick poetry books versus collections of poems in a way that is understandable and simple: a great springboard for further research and thinking. “Ariel Redux” is useful because it provides more information and perspective on Ariel, which is likely a book that I will take a closer look at in my thesis. It also helps show how poets think about constructing book-length sequences of poetry.