Steven P. Schneider
A. R. Ammons and the Poetics of Widening Scope.
Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 1994. First edition. 0838635075 246 pages.
Volume, measuring approximately 6.5" x 9.75", is bound in black cloth, with stamped silver lettering to spine. Book is in fine condition, with firm binding, clean and bright interior. Dust jacket displays sunning to spine and is otherwise in fine condition. Jacket is preserved in mylar cover.
"A. R. Ammons and the Poetics of Widening Scope" explores the full range of Ammon's poetry, from the poet's first published poems in "Ommateum" to his most recently published long poem, "Garbage." After contextualizing Ammons as a poet of science, Steven P. Schneider examines Ammons's relationship to his Romantic forebears, Emerson, Thoreau, and Whitman. Key chapters are devoted to the connections between Ammons's poetry and contemporary vision theory, astronomy, and biology. Schneider presents new and penetrating readings of Ammon's central poems, such as "Corsons Inlet," "Sphere," and "Easter Morning."
The author argues that A. R. Ammons is committed to the concept of "widening scope." For Ammons, this refers both to his own cognitive and visual range and to that of his readers. Walt Whitman, in his 1855 Preface to "Leaves of Grass," asked "Who knows the curious mystery of the eyesight?" Over a century later, Ammons declares that "there is no finality of vision." Ammons's exploration of the expansive possibilities of sight and science enables him to extend the American visionary tradition into the late twentieth century."