William Stafford Books

Insofar as its chief topic is concerned, i.e. Stafford's personal experience as an officer aboard a destroyer escort in World War II, the book paints a no-doubt accurate picture of life aboard one of the Navy's lesser warships. But it strikes me as unremarkable unless one is into the minutiae of the Pacific Theater of Operations, as Stafford's ship saw no major combat.

That said, the chapter in which Stafford leaves his own ship and tells the story of the destroyers and destroyer escorts in the Battle of Leyte Gulf is worth the price of the book alone.

For those who are unfamiliar with the centerpiece battle of the multi-battle Leyte Gulf, its a classic case of the little guy giving the big guy a beating... and nearly dying in the process.

It wouldn't have happened if Admiral Halsey hadn't made the biggest mistake of his career. After pummeling the Japanese Central Force with his aircraft, Halsey took off after a group of Japanese carriers containing less than 50 airplanes that was deliberately sacrificed as a decoy to draw him away from the Leyte invasion force. In short, Halsey was suckered and left the invasion force nearly unprotected.

Far from beaten, the Japanese Central Force of four battleships, eight cruisers and 11 destroyers continued on toward the troop ships. Directly in their path was the task group Taffy 3, consisting of six "jeep" carriers and seven destroyers and destroyer escorts.

I've read a few accounts of this battle, and Stafford's is the most stiring, albeit incomplete as he concentrates on the destroyers and destroyer escorts as they take on the Japanese wagons and cruisers.

The damage and confusion they caused (three cruisers sunk), and the fact that Admiral Kurita thought he was up against the fleet carriers, saved Halsey from a disaster that could have been worse than Pear Harbor. Unbeknownst to Admiral Kurita, he could have broken through to the transports and sunk many of them.

Much of what Stafford writes about the battle has been covered elsewhere. However, his affinity for the destroyer escorts led him to cover the actions of the Samuel B. Roberts in detail.

That includes the story of how Commander Robert W. Copeland ordered his chief engineer to remove the safeties from the engines and boilers so as to make maximum speed. The steam pressure rose to 670 pounds in boilers designed for a maximum of 440, and the bridge pitometer logged 28.5 knots in a ship designed for a maximum speed of 24 knots.

You'll have to get the book, if you want the rest of the story. Believe me. It's worth it.

World War II was my parent's generation's war, and I am consistently drawn to stories of the sacrifices made by them. This is an excellent bit of history, told in a artfull but straightforward way. I highly recommend it.

Lots of histories cover the major events of WWII, but what I liked was the way the author covered small details--little "slices of life" aboard a fighting ship.

It's difficult for readers today, accustomed to the security we enjoy, to appreciate the anxiety that sailors faced. What to us seems like an inevitable victory against Japan was not such a sure thing to the men being shot at, and for that reason alone this book is worth reading.

We are planing a reunion of DE shipmates and would like to give this book to all in attendance. Our ship was commissioned 1 month after DE 343 and we went to the same locations and training. I am amazed at the details and the accuracy of the book. It came to me by chance from my children and will remain one of the most valued in my library. I hope it will be reprinted.

Way back in 4th grade I got a little book on the Battle of Midway (I think it was Ira Peck's) in a book distribution at school because the book I really wanted about making paper airplanes was already taken. I enjoyed that book immensely and began to turn the capacity for detail that most kids my age spend on dinosaurs or baseball towards the Pacific war. This book, though, which I scrounged at a used book store when I was a high schooler, introduced me to the human side of WWII. The people in the book were just plain old folks in a little ship in the middle of a big war. This book turned me into a historian, instead of just a reader of history books, because it introduced me to the concept that all history is biography. People make things happen, they don't happen on their own. You can read what happened, or you can look into why the people did what they did. This book doesn't give too much insight into the grand schemes of the Pacific War; the title says it all. It was, however, the catalyst that matured my interest in history. It is also a very fine read in its own right!

I picked this book up by chance; I happened upon it in the library. So I took it home with a stack of other volumes of poetry. Of those five or six books, this is the only one I remember. Reading these poems is like having someone sitting in front of you weaving a story. Every sight, every sound, every movement comes alive and performs before you. And while some poets allow the beauty of their language distance you from the poem itself, Stafford relies on simple, clear, true language, such that the reader can identify similar situations and emotions in her or his own life. Even in Quiet Places is a marvelous work, simple enough for someone just delving into poetry, and with messages deep and introspective enough for a discerning reader to envelope themselves in. It's fabulous!

I read this book with eyes half-shut, a bedtime story. The poems sang me a lullaby. The book itself is a collection of four chapbooks, edited and assembled by William Stafford's son Kim. My favorite of these was last, "The Methow River Poems" created by Stafford for the Forest Service, to be etched on road signs in Washington State.

Human emotion and story is given to landscape in these poems, and that is my favorite type of poem. Sort of an anthropomorphic way of life--a narcissistic, humanistic way of being which strangely exists outside of self and enters into everything around all of us: people, deer, waves, mountains, trees, rocks, rivers, stars. These poems carve a door, draw the non-human inside the human, and by doing so, draws us humans into the non-human realm, towards something greater, something worthy of worship, to a very, very still and quiet sanctuary.

This wonderful collection of poems is now over ten years old. The first posthumously published Stafford volume, it is full of the breathtaking and insightful poems for which this remarkable poet is known. Stafford's relaxed, friendly voice belies the depth and complexity of his poetry.

Bill Stafford (1914-1993) was a greatly loved and admired writer and teacher, authored 67 volumes and was the winner of the 1963 National Book Award, the Shelley Award from the Poetry Society of America and served as Poetry Consultant for the Library of Congress (1970-71). He was appointed Oregon Poet Laureate in 1975.

Stafford's poetry is truly a part of the American landscape. Seven of the poems from this volume are "published" on roadside plaques along the river that runs from the heart of the Cascade Mountains in Washington State to meet the Columbia River. The Methow River Poems, among his most visionary and beautiful creations, are a series of 19 poems written shortly before his death. Stafford answered a request by two U.S. Forest Service rangers, Curtis Edwards and Sheela McLean, who wrote him in 1992 asking him to provide the words for some of the 'interpretive' signs that appear throughout our national and state park lands. Stafford enthusiastically agreed. These poems were originally published by Confluence Press in 1995 as The Methow River Poems.

To my mind, the poem that best expresses Stafford's vision is "On Being a Person." I myself have read this poem over and over and have recited it to large audiences at commemorative readings of Stafford's poetry. You can hear a pin drop in the audience when this poem is being recited--so riveting, deep and sweeping is its vision. How we stand makes a difference. How we breathe makes a difference.

According to Kim Stafford "The poems my father contributed to the Methow project form a distinctive conclusion to this new book (Even in Quiet Places), and, if it is not too grand to say so, an unusual enrichment to the literary history of the American landscape . . . I believe the Methow poems display in the extreme a habit of mind that ... characterizes ... my father's life work." Work that reflected his "customary prolific generosity," somewhat random, with "nuggets of insight" that were universal despite an easy-going, particular, relaxed style.

There is a video of William Stafford discussing his commission by the Forest Service to write poems for road signs along the Methow River in Washington State. In the video Garrison Keillor reads six of the poems, Naomi Shihab Nye reads "A Valley Like This," and Stafford himself reads "Emily, This Place and You."

These are visions worth treasuring and sharing. Even in quiet places.

Accessable, powerful poems. These book covers topics from nature to war to using your feet to walk out of a sleasy show. My favorite single poem was the one entitled Watching Sandhill Cranes. This book is a collection of four volumes of poetry. My favorite section was the last, The Methow River Poems. These were written for the U.S. Forest Service and displayed along a wilderness road. I loved the idea of hikers coming upon a poem which grabs their attention for a moment and then re-focuses it again in a new light on the beauty around them.

I hope this book isn't going out of print. It's a gift to be able to take lessons from a master poet like William Stafford, especially now that he has passed away. I don't know of any other poetry technique book that allows a student to really get their feet wet in language. This is a real treat in the exploration and discovery of language becoming poetry. You will get marvelous results working through these 20 exercises.

Dunning and Stafford have created a series of engaging, easy to understand activities that will inspire students to write good to excellent poetry. Detailed instructions for writing assignments include: found poems, letter poems, pantoums, question-answer poems, and syllable count poems. Their writing style is breezy and conversational, the examples provided are of high quality yet not out of reach of the typical high school age student. It is an excellent book both for reluctant creative writers and the student who truly wants to be a poet.

This book is a wonderful mix of fresh and unusual activities and guiding interludes by the authors. The book is not only a great way to get you creative juices lowing, but it is an inspiring read. Many of my students enjoy the interludes between activities as much as the activities themselves.
I would encourage any teacher to make this a part of your poetry toolbox.

This is a cookbook-like approach to the teaching of poetic form. Each chapter presents a different form, a step-by-step guide to implementing a lesson with students (which is clear enough, I've found, to leave for a substitute lesson plan!), and selected examples of successful types. A great work for junior and senior high school general-level classes.

Stafford's poetry is beautiful and concise. His pacifism, appreciation of nature, and interest in eastern mysticism presage many of the major movements of the late fifties through early seventies.

Yet Stafford's voice lacks the selfishness which would sometimes blight these later movements. Instead of struggling egoistically against an unjust war, Stafford represents an innocent-minded struggle against war of any kind, but grounded in the work-ethic of depression era America.

(Aside: Kim Stafford's introduction to her father's work is every bit as interesting as the main text.)

Oregon's poet laureate William Stafford unassumingly answered the phone, "Bill" and wrote lovingly wrote of mother, father, a moment in his life. Simple, but not simplistic, his poetry draws deep from the well of the everyday. This collection includes the poem Stafford wrote the day he died. How typical of this extraordinary, ordinary man to keep on giving to the end!

The relationship between father and son is illuminated by the father's poems and the son's prose in this sensitive biography of William Stafford by his son Kim. Our meditation and writing group has spent six months slowly absorbing this richness. This book bears reading and rereading.

I didn't so much read this book as I absorbed it...this is a book seeped in wisdom and quiet integrity. During my first reading I carried it around like a companion. There are many books that I have loved but there are few that I trust completely.

If you enjoy William Stafford's poetry then his son Kim is an expert guide into the deeper realms of his father's life and work. William Stafford is one of the few poets I know of whose life (the way he raised his children, educated his students and maintained his principles) blends seamlessly with his work.

Oftentimes great men are a bit pre-occupied being great men and forget to focus on the upbringing of their children. Kim Stafford shares with the reader the experience of being raised by a great artist who had the generosity of spirit and clear headedness to bring his artistry home with him and apply it to his family life.

Many reviewers describe Stafford as a remote and distant father...I would characterize him as an extremely careful father...who communicated love through reverence and shared experience.

Poetry and philosophy aside 'Early Morning' is also a lovely memoir that is deeply personal without being suffocating...artful without being pretentious. I envy anyone who gets to open its pages for a first reading.

From first page to last, Mr Stafford delivers as promised, a thorough review of primary as well as secondary sources. I couldn't help but be amazed at the omnipresence of the idiotic gossip that has masqueraded for centuries as "revelations" of Mozart's life and work, now unmasked by Mr Stafford. Essential in any library of Mozart biography!

This book is really a piece of work. The author clearly relishes retelling the many ludicrous myths surrounding W.A. Mozart, and the retelling, more so than the delightful debunking of the stories, is the really wonderful part of this book. That said, the debunking is pretty cool too, and will give you a pretty good overview of the biographical literature on Mozart to boot. My favorite tale is the one spun by the wife of General VonLudendorff (yes, one of the Heroes of Tannenburg), a Naziess, about how the freemasons (not Salieri!) poisoned Mozart because, as a nascent german nationalist, he had decided to turn his back on their international brotherhood.

William Stafford has a way of writing that makes you feel like a welcome guest in his house. Here he talks in prosaic passages about what is important in writing, how to inspire your own writing, together with examples of his own work.

Reading this book is much like reading Stafford's poetry. The tone is relaxed but captivating, and he makes the task of writing well seem effortless. This book, together with "You Must Revise Your Life," is a fantastic read for writers of any level or ability.

This book of Stafford's essays ranks next to those books -like "The Rescued Year," "Someday, Maybe" or "Oregon Message"- containing his best poems. Here, Stafford muses in his quiet tone and with unassuming wisdom about the essence of writing and teaching poetry.

As he says, "A writer is not so much someone who has something to say as he is someone who has found a process that will bring about new things he would not have thought of if he had not started to say them."

This declaration alone, at a time where postmodern self-congratulation is so often confused for deep thinking, has nurtured my writing and reading of poetry more than any of the many books I read about the poetic craft.

This book is more than a collection by a poet speaking of what he's dedicated his life to, it is a treatise on how to live one's life. This is not something I'd say about many works, yet here is stunnigly clear.

Replace the word "writing" for "life," and you decide ...

"When I write, I like to have an interval before me when I am not likely to be interrupted. For me, this means usually the early morning, before others awake. I get a pen and paper, take a glance out of the window (often it is dark out there), and wait. It is like fishing. But I do not wait very long, for there is always a nibble--and this is where receptivity comes in. To get started I will accept anything that occurs to me. Something always occurs, of course, to any of us. We can't keep from thinking. Maybe I have to settle for an immediate impression: it's cold, or hot, or dark, or bright, or in between! Or--well, the possibilities are endless. If I put down something, that thing will help the next thing come, and I'm off. If I let the process go on, things will occur to me that were not at all in mind when I started. These things, odd or trivial as they may be, are somehow connected. And if I let them string out, surprising things will happen."

I recommend it to budding poets, those whose writing is growing tired, or anyone trying to make sense of being in this world. People like me perhaps, hoping for some guidance who -as Nietzsche wrote- earnestly endeavour to "becoming who you already are."

Another World Instead: The Early Poems of William Stafford 1937-1947 is an anthology of vintage free-verse poetry by teacher, award-winning author, and poet William Stafford. The poems have been chosen from Stafford's earlier works by poet, teacher, and former Marine officer (one of the first to be honorably discharged as a conscientious objector during the Vietnam War) Fred Marchant. Many of the poems date back to the World War II era; Stafford was a conscientious objector during this time, assigned under penalty of law to work in Civilian Public Service camps, a type of internal exile within his own country. Nearly all the poems in Another World Instead have never before been published - now their tale of a committed pacifist and fledgling poet living in a time of war can be told. Highly recommended. "Fate": More steadfast than a truck / Along a narrow street / A minute looks for you / Until you meet.

The most important American poet of the second half of the Twentieth Century--Stafford is my top candidate, anyway. You may have somebody else in mind.

Stafford is so many things. For one, a poet of great spontaneity--of accepting what comes, of luck, and of writing it down:

"If you write . . . the activity of writing will make things occur to you in your mind. You write the documentary that you think, rather than the documentary that you live. When you write, it doesn't make so very much difference what you have done or intend to do, but it makes quite a bit of difference what occurs to you at the moment you're writing. . . . it's just as if you have a readiness to respond to what occurs to you at the moment."

Stafford is so humble that we may have yet to grasp how vast he is--how expansive his vision.

For Bill Stafford, writing is not about being a great writer, or getting published in the best publications--it's about being a good person--a whole way of life, of which the written poem on the page is an evidence, a record, a door that opens to us, his readers.

"In everyone's life there's all this torrent of things happening and a writer . . . maybe one way to say it would be someone who pays attention at least at intervals, to that torrent. Or a writer is not someone who has to dream of things to write, but has to figure out what to pick up out of the current as it goes by."

Lucky us, whether we write, or read or just live, that Paul Merchant and Vince Wixon put together this collection of Stafford's statements on his writing and teaching.

We're lucky indeed to have three other books in the same vein: You Must Revise Your Life (Poets on Poetry),Writing the Australian Crawl (Poets on Poetry), and Crossing Unmarked Snow: Further Views on the Writer's Vocation (Poets on Poetry).

There's a line in American poetry running straight from ideas of Ralph Waldo Emerson through Emily Dickinson, Walt Whitman, Wallace Stevens, and William Carlos Williams. Stafford, like Dickinson, is humble. He's proximite to nature, sees into the depth of the world, speaks directly to to his reader like a friend and with greatest facility in everyday language--all of which place him right in that line.

Who's next?

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