Post by emsuria35 on May 21, 2012 18:40:59 GMT -5
Mark Doty, a celebrated American poet, uses the world he lives in and his own experiences as a guide to create poetry that inspires others. Mark started studying poetry at a young age, receiving a Bachelor of Arts from Drake University, and followed swiftly after with a Master in Fine Arts from Goddard College. He first worked as a professor at Houston University before becoming a distinguished writer at Rutgers University. His work includes not only twelve collections of poetry, but several memoirs that help to show how his life experiences have affected his view on the world, and how these ideas weave their way throughout his poetry.
Life was not always easy for Doty, but instead of being held back by roadblocks, Doty uses these moments to fuel his writing, making his poetry more personal and giving them a new edge. As an openly gay poet, Mark uses controversial poems such as “Homo Will Not Inherit” and “From the Vault” to represent the beauty in a homosexual relationship and as a message to those that have criticized his work and lifestyle. In his poem, “Homo Will Not Inherit,” he describes a world where homosexuality is seen as a sin as a, “heaven that nobody wants,” in comparison to the, “real palace,” he sees in the relationship between two men. Doty expresses his own view of religion and society as a whole through his own narrative and colorful storytelling.
In addition to his fight against homophobia, Mark expresses his grief and feelings of loss after his partner dies of AID’s through his book, My Alexandria. The collection of poetry, which won the National Book Critics’ Circle Prize, helped Mark Doty to become the first American to win the T.S. Elliot Prize, a prestigious British award for outstanding poetry. The major theme in his collection of poems is not the overwhelming grief, but the ability to remember the good times in someone’s life. He is described by book reviewer Ray Gonzalez, as having the, “courage to extract beauty out of the living moments created by death.”
What makes Mark stand out from other poets is his ability to see beauty where others do not dare to look. In reference to his National Book Award collection of poetry, Fire to Fire: New and Selected Poems, Reginald Sheppard showcases that the, “emphasis on beauty Doty brings an attention to the particular, and a deep engagement with the world.” Doty is able to see things where others are not, and he is able to bring light to the beauty in the everyday that usually would go unnoticed. The themes of his poems can be reflected in one line from his poem, “Brian Age Seven,” “Artless boy, he’s found a system of beauty: he shows us pleasure and what pleasure resists.” Doty shows us that beauty is not about perfection or about what others expect, it is about the thing that makes us happy and the little things only we can see.
Mark Doty writes his poems in order to help us all gain an insight into our own lives and to change how we see the world. His poetry reflects the individuals mind and through his exceptional words and his joyous storytelling we are able to use his experiences to better understand our own. Mark Doty is an inspiration for all future poets and as final advice from the man himself, Mark Doty writes, “a good poem bears the stamp of individual character in a way that seems to usher us into the unmistakable idiosyncratic perceptual style of the writer.”
Life was not always easy for Doty, but instead of being held back by roadblocks, Doty uses these moments to fuel his writing, making his poetry more personal and giving them a new edge. As an openly gay poet, Mark uses controversial poems such as “Homo Will Not Inherit” and “From the Vault” to represent the beauty in a homosexual relationship and as a message to those that have criticized his work and lifestyle. In his poem, “Homo Will Not Inherit,” he describes a world where homosexuality is seen as a sin as a, “heaven that nobody wants,” in comparison to the, “real palace,” he sees in the relationship between two men. Doty expresses his own view of religion and society as a whole through his own narrative and colorful storytelling.
In addition to his fight against homophobia, Mark expresses his grief and feelings of loss after his partner dies of AID’s through his book, My Alexandria. The collection of poetry, which won the National Book Critics’ Circle Prize, helped Mark Doty to become the first American to win the T.S. Elliot Prize, a prestigious British award for outstanding poetry. The major theme in his collection of poems is not the overwhelming grief, but the ability to remember the good times in someone’s life. He is described by book reviewer Ray Gonzalez, as having the, “courage to extract beauty out of the living moments created by death.”
What makes Mark stand out from other poets is his ability to see beauty where others do not dare to look. In reference to his National Book Award collection of poetry, Fire to Fire: New and Selected Poems, Reginald Sheppard showcases that the, “emphasis on beauty Doty brings an attention to the particular, and a deep engagement with the world.” Doty is able to see things where others are not, and he is able to bring light to the beauty in the everyday that usually would go unnoticed. The themes of his poems can be reflected in one line from his poem, “Brian Age Seven,” “Artless boy, he’s found a system of beauty: he shows us pleasure and what pleasure resists.” Doty shows us that beauty is not about perfection or about what others expect, it is about the thing that makes us happy and the little things only we can see.
Mark Doty writes his poems in order to help us all gain an insight into our own lives and to change how we see the world. His poetry reflects the individuals mind and through his exceptional words and his joyous storytelling we are able to use his experiences to better understand our own. Mark Doty is an inspiration for all future poets and as final advice from the man himself, Mark Doty writes, “a good poem bears the stamp of individual character in a way that seems to usher us into the unmistakable idiosyncratic perceptual style of the writer.”