Scriptorium: Poems (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9780807094440)

National Poetry Series Winner

A collection of poems exploring religious and linguistic authority, from medieval England to contemporary Appalachia--with a foreword by Poet Laureate Tracy K. Smith

The poems in Scriptorium are primarily concerned with questions of religious authority. The medieval scriptorium, the central image of the collection, stands for that authority but also for its subversion; it is both a place where religious ideas are codified in writing and a place where an individual scribe might, with a sly movement of the pen, express unorthodox religious thoughts and experiences.

In addition to exploring the ways language is used, or abused, to claim religious authority, Scriptorium also addresses the authority of the vernacular in various time periods and places, particularly in the Appalachian slang of the author's East Tennessee upbringing. Throughout Scriptorium, the historical mingles with the personal: poems about medieval art, theology, and verse share space with poems that chronicle personal struggles with faith and doubt.

Author: Melissa Range
ISBN-10: 0807094447
ISBN-13: 9780807094440
Publisher: Beacon Press
Language: English
Published: 10/18/2016
Pages: 96
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.30lbs
Size: 8.40h x 5.40w x 0.30d

Review Citation(s):
Library Journal 08/01/2016 pg. 99
Booklist 10/01/2016 pg. 11
Publishers Weekly 12/05/2016