Born May 27, 1939 (age 76) in California, Frank Bidart is both a poet and an American academic. Since 1972 he has taught English at Wellesley College and currently resides within Cambridge, Massachusetts. Bidart’s work includes Golden State (1973), The Book of the Body (1977), The Sacrifice (1983), In the Western Night: Collected Poems 1965–90 (1990), Desire (1997), Music Like Dirt (2002), Star Dust (2005), watching the Spring Festival (2008), and Metaphysical Dog (2013). His awards and honors are varied ranging from the National Book Critics Circle Award to the Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. If his myriads of titles weren’t evident enough Frank’s poems are in a league of their own. Even though Bidart develops personas in his field of expertise that dramatically present themes and topics in such a way that are unthinkable, he does so while utilizing simple literary elements such as Italian sonnet, irregular use of grammar, and characterization. On top of that, Bidart presents the wretchedness of
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In fact, throughout his work it is made visible just how versatile such a literary element can be. The means by which this sonnet lends itself to be heavily concentrated when focusing on a central theme, affirms its place within an everlasting poetic tradition. This system of dialogue is optimal way to elucidate upon a single belief or concept. One such example of this method is located within the poem “If I Could Morn Like A Morning Dove” rather than having one part of the poetry being in Italian sonnet the whole text is laden with the technique. This artistic style is viewable in both “Song” and “Dark Night”. Due to this tedious and formal process, every word chosen by Frank is carefully weighed leading to an unquestionably more satisfactory end
In fact, throughout his work it is made visible just how versatile such a literary element can be. The means by which this sonnet lends itself to be heavily concentrated when focusing on a central theme, affirms its place within an everlasting poetic tradition. This system of dialogue is optimal way to elucidate upon a single belief or concept. One such example of this method is located within the poem “If I Could Morn Like A Morning Dove” rather than having one part of the poetry being in Italian sonnet the whole text is laden with the technique. This artistic style is viewable in both “Song” and “Dark Night”. Due to this tedious and formal process, every word chosen by Frank is carefully weighed leading to an unquestionably more satisfactory end