Post by grmoran38 on May 21, 2012 21:06:21 GMT -5
Born in Seattle, Washington, the accomplished poet Ralph Angel grew up in two worlds; the forest and city. While the complex, sensory loaded inner city is where he spent the majority of his time in school and with his friends, he liked to escape to the serene, cool Seattle Forest where he found inspiration. Angel describes himself as, “one who prefers solitude”, and it is when he is alone in the wild that Angel writes his poetry.
Ralph Angel is the author of four books of published poetry, and has translated Federico Garcia Lorca’s Poem of the Deep Song, for which he won the Willis Barnstone Poetry Translation Prize. Angel’s best-known work is called Neither World, which received the James Laughlin Award in 1995 from The Academy of American Poets.
Angel is not just a poet but he is also a teacher, and he considers the interaction with his students to be a very important influence on his poetry. For 28 years, Angel has been a Professor of English and Creative Writing at the University of Redlands. He is also a member of the MMFA writing program at Vermont College. Angel said in an interview with ARTSblock Live that, “I succeed when my students become more creative because of my course. This has fueled many of my poems”. It is inspiring that a poet such as Angel also takes joy in connecting others to the poetry craft.
Outside of the University of Redlands, Ralph Angel has made a name for himself as a poet who contrasts cities and the wilderness to help explain human emotions. Angel feels an emotional connection to cities and forests because of his childhood, and in Neither World, this connection is most evident.
At first, his poems may seem sparse, but reviewer Noah Blaustein commented on the ‘reflective quiet’ of the poems, stating that Angel ‘removes the poems from their originating subjects and strips down the language to increase their immediacy. He uses city imagery as metaphors to describe human emotions, and infuses references about nature to symbolize freedom. For Angel, the city has a negative connotation; it is where we hang up our “filthy laundry hung out to dry”. On the other hand the forest is a “solitary ocean”, and a place where one goes to think about the issues that life throws at us.
Angel thinks of poetry as a discovery. As he writes his poems, he discovers things about himself and human emotions. The emotions that are prominent in his works are: love, heartbreak, despair, remorse, fear, and hope. What surprises in Angel’s work is the hopeful concluding tone. When finishing an Angel book of poetry, one feels as if you have explored the landscape of human emotions and found the light at the end of the tunnel.
This is exactly how it has felt to read Ralph Angel’s poetry. He is an amazing poet whose use of city and forest imagery, as well as complex metaphors for human emotions have changed the way that I respond to others. As Angel stated, “Poetry is a language without a language”; meaning that poetry is filled with emotions that everyone can relate to. That is why his poetry is so profound.
It has been a pleasure to introduce you to Ralph Angel and his work. Please join me in welcoming Ralph to the stage so he can provide further insights into his world of poetry.
Word Count: 573
Ralph Angel is the author of four books of published poetry, and has translated Federico Garcia Lorca’s Poem of the Deep Song, for which he won the Willis Barnstone Poetry Translation Prize. Angel’s best-known work is called Neither World, which received the James Laughlin Award in 1995 from The Academy of American Poets.
Angel is not just a poet but he is also a teacher, and he considers the interaction with his students to be a very important influence on his poetry. For 28 years, Angel has been a Professor of English and Creative Writing at the University of Redlands. He is also a member of the MMFA writing program at Vermont College. Angel said in an interview with ARTSblock Live that, “I succeed when my students become more creative because of my course. This has fueled many of my poems”. It is inspiring that a poet such as Angel also takes joy in connecting others to the poetry craft.
Outside of the University of Redlands, Ralph Angel has made a name for himself as a poet who contrasts cities and the wilderness to help explain human emotions. Angel feels an emotional connection to cities and forests because of his childhood, and in Neither World, this connection is most evident.
At first, his poems may seem sparse, but reviewer Noah Blaustein commented on the ‘reflective quiet’ of the poems, stating that Angel ‘removes the poems from their originating subjects and strips down the language to increase their immediacy. He uses city imagery as metaphors to describe human emotions, and infuses references about nature to symbolize freedom. For Angel, the city has a negative connotation; it is where we hang up our “filthy laundry hung out to dry”. On the other hand the forest is a “solitary ocean”, and a place where one goes to think about the issues that life throws at us.
Angel thinks of poetry as a discovery. As he writes his poems, he discovers things about himself and human emotions. The emotions that are prominent in his works are: love, heartbreak, despair, remorse, fear, and hope. What surprises in Angel’s work is the hopeful concluding tone. When finishing an Angel book of poetry, one feels as if you have explored the landscape of human emotions and found the light at the end of the tunnel.
This is exactly how it has felt to read Ralph Angel’s poetry. He is an amazing poet whose use of city and forest imagery, as well as complex metaphors for human emotions have changed the way that I respond to others. As Angel stated, “Poetry is a language without a language”; meaning that poetry is filled with emotions that everyone can relate to. That is why his poetry is so profound.
It has been a pleasure to introduce you to Ralph Angel and his work. Please join me in welcoming Ralph to the stage so he can provide further insights into his world of poetry.
Word Count: 573