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Stephen Dunn
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Different Hours: Poems Kindle Edition

by Stephen Dunn (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.8 4.8 out of 5 stars 77 ratings
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  1. Pulitzer PrizeWinner, 2001
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Winner of the 2001 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry.


A wise and graceful new collection by one of our "major, indispensable poets" (Sidney Lea). The mysteries of Eros and Thanatos, the stubborn endurance of mind and body in the face of diminishment--these are the undercurrents of Stephen Dunn's eleventh volume. "I am interested in exploring the 'different' hours," he says, "not only of one's life, but also of the larger historical and philosophical life beyond the personal."
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  1. Print length
    122 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  4. Publisher
    W. W. Norton & Company
  5. Publication date
    October 4, 2010
  6. File size
    474 KB
  7. Page Flip
    Enabled
  8. Word Wise
    Not Enabled
  9. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
  10. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This sensitive 11th book from Dunn (Loosestrife) largely sticks to familiar territory: in one central poem, a "master" advises the speaker to "Use what's lying around the house./ Make it simple and sad." Dunn follows that advice unwaveringly: his short lyrics in conversational language address the difficulties and small victories of everyday lifeAfears on turning 60, marital quarrels, suburban weather, "the commonplace and its contingencies." Like Gerald Stern and Philip Booth, Dunn strives to describe the travails of ordinary people in language not only simplified but generalized: a friend's divorce leads the speaker to say "no one can know what goes on/ in the pale trappings of bedrooms," while scary headlines and advancing age prompt the remark that "it's tempting to believe/ we lived in simpler times." Poems about places offer few surprises: Italy yields "the chosen gloomy beauty of a tourist town," and a series of poems about Dunn's native South Jersey produce phrases almost as stale. Many poems try so hard for their transparency that they become predictable, so hard to be representative that their speakers seem too normal to be true, even the usually multi-valent Odysseus, who here "sailed through storm and wild sea/ as if his beloved were all that ever mattered." Such mythical alter egos, when they appear, disappear into the dominant mode here, that of a quiet family man who wants to be kind and to marvel at the ordinary, "amazed/ that the paper has been delivered." Fans will pick up this book to get news of his latest doings, but despite its accessibility, it will draw few new subscribers. (Nov.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

[L]eads us down a trail of wisdom, teaching us to live like the poet. -- Alicia Suskin Ostriker

Wisdom might be something we could only learn through a language like Stephen Dunn's, unbearably fearless and beautiful. -- Gerald Stern

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0044XV6FM
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ W. W. Norton & Company; 1st ed edition (October 4, 2010)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ October 4, 2010
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 474 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 122 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.8 4.8 out of 5 stars 77 ratings

About the author

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Stephen Dunn

Stephen Dunn

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Stephen Dunn is the author of seventeen collections of poetry, most recently Lines of Defense (2013, Here and Now (2011) and What Goes On: Selected & New Poems: 1995-2009. Different Hours won the Pulitzer Prize in 2001, and Loosestrife was a National Book Critics Circle Award finalist in 1996. His other awards include: the Academy Award in Literature from The American Academy of Arts & Letters, The Paterson Award for Sustained Literary Achievement, Fellowships from the Guggenheim and Rockefeller Foundations, three NEA Creative Writing Fellowships, the Levinson and Oscar Blumenthal Prizes from Poetry, and many others. He is Distinguished Professor (emeritus) of Creative Writing at Richard Stockton College of New Jersey, and has also taught at Columbia University, NYU, University of Michigan, Princeton, and the University of Washington. He spends most of his time these days in Frostburg, Maryland where he lives with wife, the writer Barbara Hurd.

Customer reviews

4.8 out of 5 stars
4.8 out of 5
77 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

elithian
5.0 out of 5 stars Pulitzer Prize-What else can be said
Reviewed in the United States on October 1, 2006
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Needless to say this is the goal of a lifetime for modern poets; write a Pulitzer Prize winning collection of poems. For Dunn this is validation of a lifetime of effort; the ultimate credential in poetry. The wording and imagery is exquisite. Unfortunately, he like most poets is not well served by his art. His poetry offers little for those searching for the next step but he seems to say there is no next step. For Dunn the truth is bland, ordinary, and frightenly hopeless. Dunn suggests we are all heading towards an abysmal oblivion. Some say he has the courage to look at reality. I know him and I say he could use some prozac or a good dose of the real truth; the eternal peace within all of us. But hey, it's like finding a needle in a hey stack. Say hello Steve.

I will continue to hang out with Hafiz and Rumi. They are definitiely more fun. And besides, getting a hold on the "Beloved" is like grabbing a Grizzley Bear by the nuts and making love to a beautiful woman all at once.
4 people found this helpful
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Ken Boyd
5.0 out of 5 stars A Poetry Master
Reviewed in the United States on September 11, 2022
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I am now a confirmed Stephen Dunn fan.
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Samantha A.
5.0 out of 5 stars Simple Yet Complex
Reviewed in the United States on April 14, 2009
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I first came across Stephen Dunn's work in Contemporary American Poetry by A. Poulin, Jr. and Michael Waters (Eight Edition). I really enjoyed the few poems included there and wanted to read more. Recommended from a friend, I purchased Different Hours by Stephen Dunn. I enjoyed almost every single one of his poems and read and re-read them over and over again. I loved how his poems at first seemed simple, but after reading them again and really analyzing them, they were really more complex than that. I would recommend this book to anyone who is looking to read stimulating and interesting poetry. Some of my favorites include, "John & Mary," "After," and "The Death of God."
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am
4.0 out of 5 stars wonderful useage of words
Reviewed in the United States on June 24, 2015
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Great feeling and the reader gets a sense of "thereness" in the situations written about in the poetry. I have a feeling I will be purchasing more of Mr. Dunn's work. This is the type of book I need a real book to hold and read and mark in, rather than my Kindle. Perhaps old fashioned but it's OK.
3 people found this helpful
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Auntie Annie
5.0 out of 5 stars Something to think about
Reviewed in the United States on November 23, 2013
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Stephen Dunn has been a favorite poet for a number of years. He does not disappoint in this volume of well thought out and introspective poems. Special favorites are: "At the Restaurant," "Capriccio Italien," "What Goes On," and "Dog Weather," all from the first section, as well as "John and Mary," "Men in the Sky" and "Chokeberry" from later sections.
3 people found this helpful
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Susannah L. Sulzman
5.0 out of 5 stars Love Stephen Dunn's poetry
Reviewed in the United States on June 21, 2018
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Love Stephen Dunn's poetry! I won't actually critique it here; I'll just say read it for yourself; you'll recognize yourself in many of these poems, since they so beautifully portray human experience.
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Dudley-ABQ
5.0 out of 5 stars Signed by the poet!
Reviewed in the United States on August 24, 2019
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Extra special bonus—the book I received is signed by the poet! Cool
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Nathan L Brown
5.0 out of 5 stars One of Our Best
Reviewed in the United States on April 18, 2013
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Stephen Dunn brings us what we need...
even if we have to read the book a second,
third (or more) times to find it. It's there.

He's one of the best things American contemporary poetry has going for it,
and I truly hope more readers will give this excellent work a read.
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Top reviews from other countries

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Ray
5.0 out of 5 stars Book was in good shape and arrived in good time
Reviewed in Canada on June 6, 2019
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Enjoyed the book
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otoniel costa neto
5.0 out of 5 stars Bom
Reviewed in Brazil on April 19, 2019
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Alguns dos melhores poemas amorosos do autor aparecem neste volume, como "Androgyne" e "John and Mary", além de belas reflexões sobre a própria finitude desenvolvidas com sabedoria e humor. Poeta indispensável.
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Chris Bird
4.0 out of 5 stars A brilliant Poet
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 30, 2013
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I find Stephen Dunn to be a deeply gifted and talented writer and I enjoy his work so very much and feel happy to reccomend it.
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