six modernist moments in poetry by david young

review copy, university of iowa

moments are very big in criticism, esp. modern poetry criticism -- I guess this may date from perloff's futurist moments? in any case -- these moments are rilke, yeats, stevens, williams, moore, and montale -- montale I only know because -- isn't he a favorite of giroux? or galassi? who translates montale? oh, I guess david young does. the montale chapter begins with a poem (in translation) which has the word -- for me a pound word -- "vortex." He notes it is a vortice in italian. Thanks. It is hard for me to believe that a writer who also writes poetry can write a sentence beginning "The opening lyric constitutes a vignette wherein the attentive speaker, whose personal history and social identity are not invoked, takes in his surroundings... ."

The idea of a moment seeks to put a close reading together with the larger deconstructive meaning of close reading as well as some close cultural context by making rather than a situation a moment of the "reading" (which is really writing about or talking about another piece of writing).