Description

Drawing on deep passion and personal experience, former US Poet Laureate Tracy K. Smith demystifies the art form that has too often been mischaracterised as “inaccessible”, “irrelevant” or “intimidating”. She argues that poetry is rooted in fundamentally human qualities innate to our capacities to love, dream, question and engage across diverse cultures and backgrounds. Lifting the veil on her own creative process, Smith shows us how reading and writing poetry allows us to confront life’s many uncertainties and losses, to build camaraderie with strangers and to understand ourselves. She grounds readers in the technical elements of the craft and provides close readings of the works of contemporary poets, alongside classic poems. By reimagining and re-examining the age-old art form, Fear Less is a warm invitation to find meaning, consolation and hope through poetry.

A Norton Short

Publisher Review

“That poems are like people is a point the former U.S. poet laureate Tracy K. Smith nods to repeatedly in her wonderful new book of criticism, Fear Less, which will open your eyes to aspects of poetry you may not have thought of on your own… [a] rewarding little book.” — David Kirby – The New York Times Book Review