Post by jonsa112 on May 30, 2013 17:41:09 GMT -5
Born in Fort Bragg, North Carolina, Tony Hoagland grew up in a military family that constantly had to travel along the South. Growing up in a middle class family, Hoagland has stated that there was no religion in his family, which led to an absence of ceremonial knowledge, absence of inherited knowledge, absence of family stories and there was an absence of instruction. This absence of family life and family teachings altered him as a person and can be seen in his works.
Hoagland discovered and began to admire poetry as early as his adolescent years. Hoagland stated in an interview with Poets.org how “Looking back, I can see it was mysterious to me, it was attractive because it seemed to be trying to solve the problems him nature and staying alive that I was grappling with” he discovered his love for poetry. Hoagland found it mysterious and attractive because it was the only thing that remained constant in his life, after many years it was the only thing still in his life. Friendships, education and the idea of a career path were simply laughable to him, being how uninterested and pointless it was to him; however poetry throughout Hoagland’s life still remained faithful and true to him.
Hoagland’s inspirations came from while reading different poems from other poets, “I would have an experience and I would think of a Philip Larkin poem, or a W. H. Auden poem, or a Louise Glück poem, or a James Tate poem. The stories in the poems correlated with my experience of walking around the world, and the emotional knowledge—or the behavioral instructions that I needed—were in some ways coming out of the poems. And so it was very instructive for me” and learning the different styles and techniques from poets. Hoagland writes very contemporary, social critique based poems primarily on American society.
Hoagland’s basis for his poetry is criticizing manners, morals, sexual doings and the American social life; many of his poems criticize the American consumer life and the American culture, which can be found almost everyone in his work. His comedy and sharp whit is what Hoagland is best known for. Lines such as when he talking about America describes it saying “Whose walls are made of RadioShack’s and Burger Kings, and MTV episodes Where you cant tell the show from the commercials” sharply describes how America is build on capitalistic big business and idiotic television programs where the show and commercials cant be told apart because they are basically the same thing.
Hoagland has published several award winning books, such as Unincorporated Personas in the Late Honda Dynasty (2010); What Narcissism Means to Me (2003), a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award; Donkey Gospel (1998), which received the James Laughlin Award; and Sweet Ruin (1992), chosen by Donald Justice for the 1992 Brittingham Prize in Poetry and winner of the Zacharis Award from Emerson College. Each book brings more and more critiques on various problems and social aspects to the American society.
Overall Hoagland’s poetry can be described as witty with comical twists on everyday society. He can write on subjects from Rap music, to how women are evil, to his own childhood days when he learned his first curse word. All of Hoagland’s poems tie to the common themes of life and how American social life is affecting the American image.
Word Count: 566
Hoagland discovered and began to admire poetry as early as his adolescent years. Hoagland stated in an interview with Poets.org how “Looking back, I can see it was mysterious to me, it was attractive because it seemed to be trying to solve the problems him nature and staying alive that I was grappling with” he discovered his love for poetry. Hoagland found it mysterious and attractive because it was the only thing that remained constant in his life, after many years it was the only thing still in his life. Friendships, education and the idea of a career path were simply laughable to him, being how uninterested and pointless it was to him; however poetry throughout Hoagland’s life still remained faithful and true to him.
Hoagland’s inspirations came from while reading different poems from other poets, “I would have an experience and I would think of a Philip Larkin poem, or a W. H. Auden poem, or a Louise Glück poem, or a James Tate poem. The stories in the poems correlated with my experience of walking around the world, and the emotional knowledge—or the behavioral instructions that I needed—were in some ways coming out of the poems. And so it was very instructive for me” and learning the different styles and techniques from poets. Hoagland writes very contemporary, social critique based poems primarily on American society.
Hoagland’s basis for his poetry is criticizing manners, morals, sexual doings and the American social life; many of his poems criticize the American consumer life and the American culture, which can be found almost everyone in his work. His comedy and sharp whit is what Hoagland is best known for. Lines such as when he talking about America describes it saying “Whose walls are made of RadioShack’s and Burger Kings, and MTV episodes Where you cant tell the show from the commercials” sharply describes how America is build on capitalistic big business and idiotic television programs where the show and commercials cant be told apart because they are basically the same thing.
Hoagland has published several award winning books, such as Unincorporated Personas in the Late Honda Dynasty (2010); What Narcissism Means to Me (2003), a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award; Donkey Gospel (1998), which received the James Laughlin Award; and Sweet Ruin (1992), chosen by Donald Justice for the 1992 Brittingham Prize in Poetry and winner of the Zacharis Award from Emerson College. Each book brings more and more critiques on various problems and social aspects to the American society.
Overall Hoagland’s poetry can be described as witty with comical twists on everyday society. He can write on subjects from Rap music, to how women are evil, to his own childhood days when he learned his first curse word. All of Hoagland’s poems tie to the common themes of life and how American social life is affecting the American image.
Word Count: 566