Post by agathama116 on May 31, 2013 21:50:05 GMT -5
Born in San Jose, California in 1945 and attending UCLA for her B.A and M.A in English, Kay Ryan was relatively unknown until she was awarded the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize in 2004, which thrust her into a much larger spotlight. She served at the 16th US Poet Laureate and completed her term in 2010, and has taught English in a community college in Marin County California for over 30 years.
Her life is heavily geared towards simplicity, and this is often showcased in her writing as well. Instead of trying to drive herself to a point of insanity, she focuses on just living life. Through the time she spends outside of her desk, she is able to transfer her experiences onto paper into relatable writing.
She uses universal ideas to express the emotions she feels in life. As a review of J.D McClatchy described, the vast majority of her poems “begin with ideas and draw life in towards their speculations.” She hardly ever writes in first person, mirroring the “shockingly passive” approach that she describes she takes to life.
In her beginning stages as a writer, her confidence in writing helped her survive any criticisms. She used a deck of tarot cards to force herself to vary in writing, both in style and in content. This way, she was exposed to different types of poetry than she was used to writing herself and gave herself range. She struggled with the concept of completely opening up when writing, but realized through this tarot card activity, that she could hide what she was exposing, but without sacrificing content.
At first glance her poems are deceivingly simple and straightforward. However, each poem has a layer of complex meaning to it, under the simple cover. As she began the publishing process, her style shifted slightly to a more clean and crisp version of the same idea. Her writing provokes the audience to think about how the meaning of the poem can relate to them, and what lesson can be taken away from it. Through her poetry she demonstrates that a straightforward appearance hides beneath it a more complex meaning. A review of Ryan’s work concluded in a statement by Dana Gioia, noting that “Ryan reminds us of the suggestive power of poetry–how it elicits and rewards the reader’s intellect, imagination, and emotions. I like to think that Ryan’s magnificently compressed poetry…signals a return to concision and intensity.” However, her poetry does not feel dense or heavy; she writes in such a manner that is easy to understand, even after picking up the deeper meaning.
She acquired her signature style through rhyme and metaphor, drawing her away from her early poems similar to prose, to her trademark short, condensed thought. Since they are rarely over a page long, she describes her poems to be similar to “using a hammer to drive a needle through silk”. Her several books of poetry serve as a testament to her sharpening of her style, and display her many talents in unconventional “recombinant” rhyme and unusual metaphors, all while being able to reach out to every reader.
Her life is heavily geared towards simplicity, and this is often showcased in her writing as well. Instead of trying to drive herself to a point of insanity, she focuses on just living life. Through the time she spends outside of her desk, she is able to transfer her experiences onto paper into relatable writing.
She uses universal ideas to express the emotions she feels in life. As a review of J.D McClatchy described, the vast majority of her poems “begin with ideas and draw life in towards their speculations.” She hardly ever writes in first person, mirroring the “shockingly passive” approach that she describes she takes to life.
In her beginning stages as a writer, her confidence in writing helped her survive any criticisms. She used a deck of tarot cards to force herself to vary in writing, both in style and in content. This way, she was exposed to different types of poetry than she was used to writing herself and gave herself range. She struggled with the concept of completely opening up when writing, but realized through this tarot card activity, that she could hide what she was exposing, but without sacrificing content.
At first glance her poems are deceivingly simple and straightforward. However, each poem has a layer of complex meaning to it, under the simple cover. As she began the publishing process, her style shifted slightly to a more clean and crisp version of the same idea. Her writing provokes the audience to think about how the meaning of the poem can relate to them, and what lesson can be taken away from it. Through her poetry she demonstrates that a straightforward appearance hides beneath it a more complex meaning. A review of Ryan’s work concluded in a statement by Dana Gioia, noting that “Ryan reminds us of the suggestive power of poetry–how it elicits and rewards the reader’s intellect, imagination, and emotions. I like to think that Ryan’s magnificently compressed poetry…signals a return to concision and intensity.” However, her poetry does not feel dense or heavy; she writes in such a manner that is easy to understand, even after picking up the deeper meaning.
She acquired her signature style through rhyme and metaphor, drawing her away from her early poems similar to prose, to her trademark short, condensed thought. Since they are rarely over a page long, she describes her poems to be similar to “using a hammer to drive a needle through silk”. Her several books of poetry serve as a testament to her sharpening of her style, and display her many talents in unconventional “recombinant” rhyme and unusual metaphors, all while being able to reach out to every reader.