Smashing the Piano - Hardcover

Montague, John

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 185235254X ISBN 13: 9781852352547

Publisher: The Gallery Press, 1999

Synopsis

Smashing the Piano, John Montague's first book of poems since the publication of Collected Poems, suggests the full range of his styles, subjects and concerns. It includes sequences which explore the troubled face of love 'Dark Rooms' and politics 'Civil Wars' as well as translations from Irish and French and lyrics with a lighter, playful touch. Passionately serious poems such as 'A Response to Omagh' and 'A Charm for Europe' display great authority and vision. Others commemorate 'old friends gone to the shades', revisit his native Ulster, and invoke the spirit of W.B. Yeats. 'Weary of discords, heartsick for harmony', these poems embody 'the chill of winter' and 'the full warmth of summer'. Balanced between 'two extremes of passion, joy and grief', they constitute John Montague's most varied and affectionate collection so far.

About this title

About the Author:

John Montague was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1929. A few years later his family returned to County Tyrone, Northern Ireland, where he was raised. He was educated at University College, Dublin, where he received his BA and MA degrees. In 1955 he received an MFA from the University of Iowa. Before beginning a career of college teaching, he worked as a Paris correspondent forTheIrish Times. He has taught at universities in France, Ireland, Canada, and the United States. In 1998, he was named the first Irish Professor of Poetry, a three-year appointment to be divided among The Queen s University in Belfast, Trinity College Dublin, and University College Dublin. He now divides his time between France and West Cork, Ireland. He has received many awards, including the Irish-American Cultural Institute s Award for Literature, the American Ireland Fund Literary Award for 1995, and a Guggenheim Fellowship. He is the author of numerous collections and an editor of anthologies. He has also published a book of stories, Berkeley s Telephone and Other Fictions(Lilliput Press, 2000). Wake Forest is the publisher of his last ten volumes, including his most recent, Speech Lessons(2012)."

About this edition

• Publisher: The Gallery Press
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 185235254X
• ISBN 13: 9781852352547
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 88