Author Asks

1. “Ralph Angel’s poems are haunted.” Agree or disagree with this statement. If you agree: haunted by whom, or what?



2. Angel’s poems are filled with sudden shifts between the physical and metaphysical (or material and spiritual) realms. Find a few examples of these shifts in the poetry, and discuss the range of their effects, for the reader and for the poem.



3. Is Exceptions and Melancholies an apt title for this book? Why, or why not?



4. Look up the dictionary definition of “surrealism.” What elements of Angel’s poetry, in light of that definition, qualify as “surreal”? In what way(s) does Angel’s work not fit the definition?



5. There are many “elisions” in Angel’s poems. a) Choose one of the poems and identify those places where a piece has been left out of the narrative (or picture, or web of relationships, etc.). Through discussion, attempt to “fill in” what the poem leaves out. Even though there’s probably no specific “right answer,” give a reasoned explanation for your guesses. b) What is the effect of these elisions—for the poem, and for the reader?



6. Jean Cocteau said that “poetry has no use for evasion. What it wants is invasion, that is, that the soul be invaded with words and objects which, just because they don’t present a winged appearance impel it to plunge deep into itself.” Discuss Cocteau’s declaration in relation to Angel’s poetry.



7. In defining duende, Federico García Lorca said that “the duende, then, is a power, not a work. It is a struggle, not a thought.” Try to find examples of poems that seem to fit Lorca’s characterization.



8. The poem, “Man in a Window,” alternates between enjoying the stimulation and companionship of friends and a desire to be solitary and work. How do the poem’s style and form enact this ambivalence?



9. In the poem, “Decalogue,” what is the relation of the parts to the whole? Does the poem achieve a unity, and, if so, what are the terms of that unity—narrative? thematic? something else? What is the speaker’s (poet’s?) position or point of view in the poem? Does it shift?



10. The poem, “Breaking Rhythm,” ends with the line, “The wonder, the wonder, the wonder.” What is the significance of this line in relation to the poem as a whole? What can this line tell us about other poems in Exceptions and Melancholies?



11. In the poem, “Part One: Acknowledgement,” the speaker says, “We’re nobody’s business—/and the truth, the truth’s wooden-clock voice/actually lives here.” What does this poem convey to you about the nature of time?



12. How do the concrete details and images of the poem, “The Coast,” work to create internal feeling and a sense of transcendence out of the ordinary? Where do you find other examples of synaesthesia in Exceptions and Melancholies?