The Orphic voice : poetry and natural history

A poetic portrait of Paris that combines prose poetry, diary, and memoir by award-winning writer and poet Henri Cole. Henri Cole’s Orphic Paris combines autobiography, diary, essay, and poetry with photographs to create a new form of elegiac memoir. With Paris as a backdrop, Cole, an award-winning American poet, explores with fresh and penetrating insight the nature of friendship and family, poetry and solitude, the self and freedom. Cole writes of Paris, “For a time, I lived here, where the call of life is so strong. My soul was colored by it. Instead of worshiping a creator or man, I cared fully for myself, and felt no guilt and confessed nothing, and in this place I wrote, I was nourished, and I grew.” Written under the tutelary spirit of Orpheus—mystic, oracular, entrancing— Orphic Paris is an intimate Paris journal and a literary commonplace book that is a touching, original, brilliant account of the city and of the artists, writers, and luminaries, including Cole himself, who have been moved by it to create. A Poetic Portrait Of Paris That Combines Prose Poetry, Diary, And Memoir By Award-winning Writer And Poet Henri Cole. Henri Cole's Orphic Paris Combines Autobiography, Diary, Essay, And Prose Poetry With Photographs To Create A New Form Of Elegiac Memoir. With Paris As A Backdrop, Cole, An Award-winning American Poet, Explores With Fresh And Penetrating Insight The Nature Of Friendship And Family, Poetry And Solitude, The Self And Freedom. Cole Writes Of Paris, For A Time, I Lived Here, Where The Call Of Life Is So Strong. My Soul Was Colored By It. Instead Of Worshiping A Creator Or Man, I Cared Fully For Myself, And Felt Not Guilt And Confessed Nothing, And In This Place, I Wrote, I Was Nourished, And I Grew. Written Under The Tutelary Spirit Of Orpheus--mystic, Oracular, Entrancing--orphic Paris Is An Intimate Paris Journal And A Literary Commonplace Book That Is A Touching, Original, Brilliant Account Of The City-- Henri Cole's Orphic Paris Combines Autobiography, Diary, Essay, And Prose Poetry With Photographs To Create A New Form Of Elegiac Memoir. With Paris As A Backdrop, Cole, An Award-winning American Poet, Explores With Fresh And Penetrating Insight The Nature Of Friendship And Family, Poetry And Solitude, The Self And Freedom. Cole Writes Of Paris, For A Time, I Lived Here, Where The Call Of Life Is So Strong. My Soul Was Colored By It. Instead Of Worshiping A Creator Or Man, I Cared Fully For Myself, And Felt Not Guilt And Confessed Nothing, And In This Place, I Wrote, I Was Nourished, And I Grew. Written Under The Tutelary Spirit Of Orpheus--mystic, Oracular, Entrancing--orphic Paris Is An Intimate Paris Journal And A Literary Commonplace Book That Is A Touching, Original, Brilliant Account Of The City-- Henri Cole. "The Orphic Voice is a book about the relationship between poetry and our place in and knowledge of the natural world written by one of the most original, distinguished, and visionary literary thinkers of the late twentieth century. Taking its bearings from the Greek myth of Orpheus, whose singing had the power to move the rocks and trees and to quiet the animals, The Orphic Voice is an exercise in what Sewell calls mythic thinking. Myth is not, she argues, mere fable; it is instead a way of configuring our fundamental bonds to the living universe, and mythic thinking represents an ancient and vital form of reflection, uniting great poets like Shakespeare and Wordsworth and Rilke to remarkable thinkers and scientists as Francis Bacon, Giambattista Vico, and Michael Polanyi. The members of this Orphic company share a common perception that "discovery, in science and poetry, is a mythological situation in which the mind unites with a figure of its own devising as a means toward understanding the world." Sewell's visionary book, first published in 1960, offers transformative readings of A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Prelude, and Rilke's Songs of Orpheus, among other masterpieces, while deepening our understanding not only of literature but of our biological and sexual being and bond to nature as a whole"-- Provided by publisher "A poetic portrait of Paris that combines prose poetry, diary, and memoir by award-winning writer and poet Henri Cole. Henri Cole's Orphic Paris combines autobiography, diary, essay, and prose poetry with photographs to create a new form of elegiac memoir. With Paris as a backdrop, Cole, an award-winning American poet, explores with fresh and penetrating insight the nature of friendship and family, poetry and solitude, the self and freedom. Cole writes of Paris, "For a time, I lived here, where the call of life is so strong. My soul was colored by it. Instead of worshiping a creator or man, I cared fully for myself, and felt not guilt and confessed nothing, and in this place, I wrote, I was nourished, and I grew." Written under the tutelary spirit of Orpheus--mystic, oracular, entrancing--Orphic Paris is an intimate Paris journal and a literary commonplace book that is a touching, original, brilliant account of the city"-- Provided by publisher