William Stafford Books

Beautiful video looks at the creation of
three William Stafford Poems and includes
narrative, journal entries, and drafts.
Stafford describes how poems emerge and
are shaped. Great Viewer's Guide includes
handwritten poem draft, bibliography,
writing exercises, and discussion questions.
Lovely music and images, a great teaching tool
for poets and creative writing/Language Arts
teachers and students. This video was later
included as part of an excellent 2004 DVD,
William Stafford Life & Poems.

Stafford's book about the art of writing poetry includes several wonderful poems, including yellow car,about the hope we find in life.

Definitely worth purchasing for anyone interested in writing poetry or understanding a poet.

Robert Bly offers a fine collection of William Stafford's work. Bly's affection and respect for Stafford shines in the introduction, which offers insights that will help many readers more fully access Stafford's work. For me, the poems themelves radiate the power and strength of gentleness and simplicity. As Stafford writes in "By a River in the Osage Country:" You don't need many words if you already know what you're talking about. The selection is rich with Staffords imaginal reflections on family, his children, his parents, and the simple mysteries of the world. These are poems of moral intelligence expressed with great integrity. This is what we mean when we say a person is "grounded." The volume concludes with the classic "A Ritual to Read to Each Other," a stirring affirmation of courage and authenticty - a thouchstone in an age of denial and fearful people lying to each other.

Traveling Through the Dark is one of my all time favorite poems. I first read it when I was a freshman in high school and have admired it ever since. This is not to say that this is the only decent poem he wrote. All his poems are very good. If you are looking for some new poetry, read William Stafford.

Traveling Through the Dark is one of my all time favorite poems. I first read it when I was a freshman in high school and have admired it ever since. This is not to say that this is the only decent poem he wrote. All his poems are very good. If you are looking for some new poetry, read William Stafford.

William Stafford described his method of writing poetry as starting from any experience or thought and following it towards what is real. Listening to his poems, one feels one is being shown how to listen to oneself and to the world.

Robert Bly did a nice job of organizing the poems. There is a great video that complements this book: "William Stafford and Robert Bly: A Literary Friendship."

I highly recommend this book, though I think it may be changing my life. Risk it if you dare!

Another Amazon.com reviewer of this book complained about the quality of the paper on which it was published. I had the opposite complaint about our country's largest environmental groups, who send their members slick, environmentally-destructive magazines--as though caring about the environment is an attitude that can be divorced from action. I am guessing that Stafford chose to have his books published in a manner that had the least impact on the environment. It would be nice to have Stafford's entire collection reprinted on acid-free paper, but I have no complaints about the physical condition of _The Darkness Around Us Is Deep_.

There is a reason why William Stafford is on almost every graduate writing program's reading list. Not only did he write what is considered to be the best poem written in the second half of the 20th Century, his entire body of work speaks of the human condition which immediately draws in the reader.

Not having the honor of meeting William Stafford in person, I have to settle for reading his poems and listening to the stories about him, told by those who did know him. This leads to the one fault I can find with this book, for the poetry within is so complete, so warm. Unfortunately my one complaint is quite serious.

My only disappointment in this book is the quality of the paper used. The paper feels and looks like cheap pulp---which would suggest that the publishers don't have the same care of William Stafford's poetry that most readers do. Unfortunately, we readers are caught in a hard place. Many of his books are out of print and we are limited to collections such as these. My advice is to seek out some of the original editions.

I give the poetry Five stars, but I have to give the book itself a three because of the production values

If you're interested in Texas History, even back beyond the white men's invasion, this book serves as an excellent source of information to whet your appetite! Done in a very casual and "back country" style, Ed Syers coaxes you into the atmosphere of the original times and places. As much of a story book as a guide, it can serve those well who just wish to sit in their Lazy-Boy recliners and dream they were on the road.

Ed Syers covers prehistoric Native American History, the times of the first explorers (and conflicts between the invading nations), and of course Texas Independence. More than that, he also tells of Texas Rangers, ghosts and mysterious lights, hidden treasure lore, and even just plain hospitipal places to visit.

Most of the items in this book aren't in any other travel book. Ever been driving through a small town in Texas and wondered how it got it's name? Or perhaps you saw a statue of someone with a name you couldn't place - who was he and why is he now in bronze?

Grab the book and settle down for a few minutes with it. Each of Ed's topics are written as 2-4 page short stories. You'll find yourself thumbing back & forth through the book, and planning a long road trip in the near future!

I usually try to stock 3 or 4 copies of this gem. Whenever I meet someone with an interest in history, traveling, or just wanting to take a quick weekend trip to someplace interesting, I hand them a copy of of this book. In all cases, without fail, everyone has come back and told me how much they enjoyed the book. Everyone of them has told me of at least one trip they've made just because of what they read in this book. Enjoy!

William Stafford and Marvin Bell, Segues (Godine, 1983)

Marvin Bell and the late William Stafford, two of America's old guard of prizewinning poets, came up with an idea during a (boring, we infer) writer's conference to correspond in poems, using the last-received poem as the genesis of ideas for the present poem. It's something poets do quite often, but without the kind of structure and formality they were setting out. The result, after two years of correspondence, was the book Segues.

It's a neat little package, and you can pick it up assuming that what's inside is going to be good writing; both poets have a solid track record of excellent work. But what's most interesting here is a chance to look at the way poems come to form, to look at an image Bell puts in as an aside that becomes the basis of a Stafford poem, and the tangents that poem sends Bell off on, etc. The fact that the poetry is quite good seems to be something of a sidelight, given that. ***

I bought this for my 10 year old son to read and product a book report. The book was very informative. Some of the words were a bit of a challenge for him but overall it was very helpful.