The Heavy Lifting

In The Heavy Lifting: A Boy's Guide to Writing Poetry, acclaimed poet and educator Jeffrey Burghauser not only makes a case for poetry-he makes a case for poetry's restoration to the prominence it once enjoyed among the manly arts. In short, pithy chapters, Burghauser guides the aspiring poet through the values, attitudes, and techniques required for a lifelong adventure in language. The Heavy Lifting is at once an instruction manual, a textbook, a manifesto, a piece of literary criticism, a polemic, a pep talk, and an anthology-a mélange recalling Ezra Pound's 1934 classic ABC of Reading. Find a comfortable place to sit, open this book, and meet one of our most dynamic teachers of poetry. 

I. INTRODUCTION 13

1) TO THE ANXIOUS READER 15

2) QUOTED TEXTS 16

3) "A SIMULTANEOUS ORDER" 17

4) TO ALL THE BIG AND LITTLE BOYS 19

5) THE BRICKLAYER 24

6) COULD I TROUBLE YOU FOR A LIGHT? 26

7) MY DECISION TO EXCLUDE HIP-HOP 27

8) "THE VAIN SEARCH" 31

9) EDEN 32

10) ARTIST STATEMENT 34

11) THE ILLUSION OF DIFFICULTY 37

II. THE HEAVY LIFTING 39

12) PROSODY 41

13) ADDENDUM: ON DACTYLS 47

14) THE PROPER REGARD FOR THE PAST 48

15) FORM 51

16) (FORM, CONTINUED) ADAM HURT'S GOURD BANJO 53

17) (FORM, CONTINUED) BODY AND SOUL: FORM AND CONTENT 55

18) FORMALITY 56

19) "OFT CRUEL FIGHTS WELL PICTURED FORTH DO PLEASE" 63

20) "CRÆFT" 68

21) "MATERIALS FOR AN ART" 70

22) THE POINT OF POINTLESSNESS 71

23) THE DECLINE OF POETRY'S RESPECTABILITY 74

24) THREE ADDITIONAL QUOTES ON THE

HAZARDS OF KNOWING 94

25) (THE DECLINE OF POETRY'S RESPECTABILITY, CONTINUED) ACADEMIC SOPHISTICATION 95

26) (THE DECLINE OF POETRY'S RESPECTABILITY, CONTINUED) NAUGHTY BOY 96

27) AUTHENTICITY 97

28) SHLOMO CARLEBACH AND A.E. HOUSMAN 101

29) POWER 110

30) THE POWER OF RHYME 112

31) THE POWER OF WIT 118

32) AN ADDENDUM ON WIT 124

33) THE POWER OF TRUTH 129

34) ELABORATION 136

35) LOVE POEMS 144

36) (LOVE POEMS, CONTINUED) A LYRIC BY CAMPION 148

37) (LOVE POEMS, CONTINUED) NEED 153

38) (LOVE POEMS, CONTINUED) QUICHE 156

39) (LOVE POEMS, CONTINUED) "RUDE AM I IN MY SPEECH" 158

40) RHYMING DICTIONARIES 163

41) CHEATING 170

42) THE COMMONPLACE BOOK 172

43) POETRY AS PROCESS AND PRODUCT 181

44) END-STOP AND ENJAMBMENT 184

45) "BEAD-BROWN EYES" 187

46) AFTER SAPPHO 190

47) DEFERRAL 192

48) THREE RHETORICAL TEMPLATES FROM FULKE GREVILLE 194

49) IMPOSSIBLE THINGS 199

50) YOU CAN DO BETTER, THOMAS 202

51) INVERSION 204

52) A GAME OF CHICKEN 207

53) FEELING AND TECHNIQUE 213

54) JEWS, DOGS, AND FLAMES 229

55) PARADOX 232

56) SPECIFICITY 238

57) (SPECIFICITY, CONTINUED) "FOR ON HIS VISAGE WAS IN LITTLE DRAWN" 249

58) (SPECIFICITY, CONTINUED) TECHNIQUE OFFERS ITS OWN SPECIFICITY 250

III. CONCLUSION 253

59) IT IS AGAINST THIS WHICH WE ARE FIGHTING 255

60) I'LL MEET YOU THERE 257

61) "UPON A REVEALED PARADISE" 258

62) THERE'S NOTHING STRANGE ABOUT AN AFTERLIFE 259

63) NOISE OF TEARING 260

TEMPLATES 265

ANTHOLOGY 285

CODA 367

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 368