Ecopoetry

Ecopoetry A brief introduction

Ecopoetry is poetry with a strong ecological emphasis or message.

History

Arthur Sze Contemporary Practices of Ecopoetics

Many poets, poems and books of poems have expressed ecological concerns; but only recently has the term ecopoetry gained use. There is now, in English-speaking poetry, a recognisable subgenre of ecopoetry.

Prior to the introduction of the term, a number of poems had ecological messages. Although these poets did not mention the word, they were clearly 'Ecopoetic' in stance and exerted an influence on the subsequent subgenre. Examples include:

• The White Poem by Jay Ramsay and Carole Bruce (Rivelin Grapheme Press, 1988)
• Bosco by Mario Petrucci (Hearing Eye, 1999; 2001)
• Heavy Water: A poem for Chernobyl (Enitharmon Press, 2004).

Jane Hirshfield Contemporary Practices Ecopoetics

A seminal text helping to bring the term into wider critical use was Ecopoetry: A critical introduction, edited by J. Scott Bryson (2002). Another example of the burgeoning use of the term at the millennial turn was the journal Ecopoetics, which broadened the term from poetry into poiesis interpreted as making or writing more generally.

Since then, a spate of poetry anthologies and books has appeared, either employing the term explicitly or using the idea as a guiding principle. Recent instances include The Thunder Mutters by Alice Oswald (2005), Forrest Gander and John Kinsella's Redstart: An ecological poetics, and the ground-breaking Earth Shattering: Ecopoems, edited by Neil Astley, from Bloodaxe Books (2007).

Themes

C. D. Wright Contemporary Practices of Ecopoetics

A major characteristic of ecopoetry, as defined by James Engelhardt, is that it is connected to the world in a way that implies responsibility. As with other models that explore and assume engagement (Marxism, feminism, etc.), Ecopoetry is "surrounded by questions of ethics".

As a means of describing poetry or poetic projects that embrace the ecological imperative for personal sensitivity and social change, ecopoetry has been cited by such writers as John Burnside and Mario Petrucci.

See also

Ecopoetry For All by Gary Snyder

• List of poetry groups and movements

References

Ecopoetry Meditation at Oyster River by Theodore Roethke

• Blue Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson - 1996 - A Bantam Spectra Book - ISBN|0-553-57335-7.
• Ecopoetry by V.I.Postnikov (The Trumpeter, 2001, 17,1) http://trumpeter.athabascau.ca.
• Ecopoetry: A critical introduction (ed. J. Scott Bryson; University of Utah Press 2002) ISBN 978-0-87480-701-1
• The White Poem by Jay Ramsay and Carole Bruce (Rivelin Grapheme Press, 1988) Template:ISBN.
• Literary journal: Ecopoetics
• The Poetry Society's Ecopoetry Study Packs

External links

About

• "What is Ecopoetry" at Poetry
• "Why Ecopoetry? at Poetry
• [[1] Manifesto of Italian ECOPOETRY (2005)] by M. Ivana Trevisani Bach
• 'Planting Roots: A survey of Introductions to Ecopoetry and Ecocriticism' by Caitlin Maling, Cordite Poetry Review
• The Future of the Past: Ecopoetics by Forrest Gander at The Free Library
• The Language Habitat: An ecopoetry manifesto by James Engelhardt (2007).

Books

• 'Ecopoems': term used in title of Earth Shattering: Ecopoems (ed. Neil Astley; Bloodaxe 2007) ISBN 1-85224-774-6
• Redstart: An Ecological Poetics by Forrest Gander and John Kinsella (University of Iowa Press, 2012) ISBN 978-1-60938-119-6
• Bosco by Mario Petrucci (Hearing Eye, 1999; 2001) ISBN 1-870841-77-8
• Heavy Water: a poem for Chernobyl (Enitharmon Press, 2004) ISBN 1-900564-34-3
• The Thunder Mutters: 101 Poems About the Planet (ed., Alice Oswald; Faber & Faber, 2005) ISBN 978-0-571-21857-8
• Ecopoetry at Amazon.com