“Looking closely at a hero’s mortal parts has always been a risky enterprise. We want our great writers pure of heart.” In The Flexible Lyric, poet and professor Ellen Bryant Voigt compiles nine craft essays examining the art of lyric poetry, beginning with a discussion on the creative process and Voigt’s fascination with Flannery O’Connor and Elizabeth Bishop. Each essay that follows examines different aspects of lyric poems, from tone to image to voice and beyond. Through close readings of an array of poets—such as Sylvia Plath, John Berryman, Denise Levertov, and Shakespeare—Voigt shows us the nuance and attention it takes to write a fantastic lyric poem.
