tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-746549356331646438.post905266931577423837..comments2024-03-28T12:39:27.400-05:00Comments on One Poet's Notes: Charles Wright: "Nostalgia"Edward Byrnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09840825927726253150noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-746549356331646438.post-15446555984507614212007-06-29T00:31:00.000-05:002007-06-29T00:31:00.000-05:00Thanks, very much, Robert. I appreciate these obse...Thanks, very much, Robert. <BR/><BR/>I appreciate these observations on "Nostalgia" and Wright's poetry.<BR/><BR/>--EdEdward Byrnehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09840825927726253150noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-746549356331646438.post-80072341543143648222007-06-27T21:35:00.000-05:002007-06-27T21:35:00.000-05:00Wright’s “Nostalgia” turns on an extended metaphys...Wright’s “Nostalgia” turns on an extended metaphysical conceit: nostalgia as a wave. It hits us when we least expect it, it breaks up and re forms and foams and, after its “dog teeth” have grabbed us and held on, smoothes out the debris on the shore. We take pleasure in nostalgic moments because they create a sense that the past was better than the present. And we take pleasure as well, according to Wright, in the surprise afforded by the shadow of nostalgia’s wave. Some say that as we grow older nostalgia will outweigh whatever “living existence” we place on the scales of our hearts––the second conceit. But this is a moment the poet, favoring the reality of the present over the idealizing of the past, prays will never arrive. Nostalgia is really the impetus for memory, which Wright is forever honoring. Memory is the mental repository of the past. As the future is unknown and the present is always fleeting, the rear view mirror is all we have.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com