Presenter of
the National Book Awards
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Presenter of
the National Book Awards
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Poet, novelist, and essayist Carol Muske-Dukes is the founder and director of the graduate program in literature and creative writing at the University of Southern California. Her column "Poet's Corner" appears regularly in The Los Angeles Times and she also contributes reviews to The New York Times. More about this author >
Written in the wake of personal tragedy, Sparrow grapples with one of the fundamental concerns of elegy: the contrast between love and grief. The poet finds the image of a flitting sparrow as the most fitting answer. Ghosts – from Lear to Godot to Oscar Wilde – haunt the brooding verse but also announce the promise of revival even in the face of the most heartbreaking loss.
