Josephine Jacobsen Criticism
Josephine Jacobsen, a Canadian-born American poet and short story writer, has been celebrated for her disciplined yet empathetic style, exploring themes such as communication, identity, and the spiritual versus the physical. Her poetry, renowned for its elegant and well-crafted language, tackles complex subjects with clarity and a minimalist aesthetic, as discussed in Questions of Style. Collections like The Shade-Seller and The Chinese Insomniacs are recognized for their musicality and contemplation of the human and natural worlds, with Robert Hudzik highlighting her "richly musical" style in his Review of The Chinese Insomniacs. Despite beginning her literary career relatively late, Jacobsen’s poetic voice developed independently of academic pressures, drawing favorable comparisons to Emily Dickinson and Marianne Moore while maintaining a distinct individuality.
Jacobsen's body of work is known for its deep exploration of human communication and faith, particularly in collections like In the Crevice of Time, where imaginative and religious experiences converge. This intersection is further explored in Elizabeth Spires' essay, Joy & Terror: The Poems of Josephine Jacobsen. While her work may not be widely anthologized, it is celebrated for its "persistent and humane power," as Nancy Sullivan emphasizes in Power as Virtue: The Achievement of Josephine Jacobsen. Her recognition from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the enduring nature of her influence are underscored by Robert Shaw's assertion that her poetry will continue to be "taken from the shelves to be read" for years to come.
Jacobsen’s oeuvre reflects the use of animal and nature imagery, blending metaphor, irony, and wit to address life's darker aspects with affirmation and intelligence. This approach is critically examined in Robert B. Shaw's review. Her short stories, particularly those in On the Island, delve into themes of loss and isolation with a noted unsentimental characterization, as praised by Erin McGraw. Moreover, Jacobsen's work has been compared to that of Elizabeth Bishop and W. H. Auden for its disciplined language and nuanced intelligence, as seen in Michael Heller's review of The Sisters: New and Selected Poems.
Her individualistic approach, which resists categorization into any literary clique, may have limited her initial prominence but has contributed significantly to the uniqueness of her voice. Dulcy Brainard, in In the Crevice of Time, notes that her philosophical and technically rich poems exemplify a modern force. As Jacobsen's work garners increasing attention, critics like Brainard suggest that her originality might prompt a reevaluation of her status in American letters.
Contents
- Principal Works
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Jacobsen, Josephine (Contemporary Literary Criticism)
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The Sisters: New and Selected Poems
(summary)
In the following positive review, Shaw critic states that "what is striking and admirable in Jacobsen's work is the consistency with which she unites firmness of technique with intelligence and feeling."
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Owls, Monkeys and Spiders in Space
(summary)
In the following excerpt, Heller praises Jacobsen's use of language in The Sisters: New and Selected Poems, highlighting her scrupulous verbal craft and auditory seriousness, with examples from her poetry.
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The Human Archipelago
(summary)
The following is a positive review of On the Island: New and Selected Stories.
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The Landscape of Story
(summary)
In the following excerpt, McGraw positively reviews On the Island, praising Jacobsen's treatment of the themes of loss and isolation and her unsentimental characterization.
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In the Crevice of Time
(summary)
Below, Brainard provides a positive review of In the Crevice of Time. One turns to Jacobsen's poems not for flashy, egotistical juggling, but as to an old friend, for her dependable, philosophical voice, rich in technique and free from cliché. She imagines eliminating the "monosyllable love" from our language in the hope that someone "will enunciate a syllable / of force" to replace it. Her gaze is often directed outward, sighting the estranged or deformed: clowns with highly individualized sorrows, deafmutes watching baseball. Whatever handicaps these subjects bear don't generate pity; if anyone seems deficient it will be the reader. Because her poems don't fall into easily recognizable categories—political, confessional, nature, or even formalist poetry—Jacobsen is seldom anthologized. Yet her work has withstood the test of time better than many of her more-often-read contemporaries from the 1940s and 1950s. Her latest poems are modern and forceful.
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The Sisters: New and Selected Poems
(summary)
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Jacobsen, Josephine (Poetry Criticism)
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Questions of Style
(summary)
In the following excerpt, Martin provides a favorable evaluation of The Shade-Seller, praising Jacobsen's natural and affirmative style.
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Three Poems of Salvation
(summary)
In the following excerpt, Jacobsen examines her poems “The Shade-Seller,” “The Lovers,” and “In the Crevice of Time.”
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Interview with Josephine Jacobsen
(summary)
In the following interview, Jacobsen and Tavernier-Courbin, aided by R. G. Collins, explore the literary influences on Jacobsen, her preference for poetry over prose, her insights into the Theatre of the Absurd, and the intricate relationship between poetry and short stories in her work, highlighting the dramatic elements and emotional intensity she values in literature.
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Review of The Chinese Insomniacs
(summary)
In the following review, Hudzik lauds Jacobsen's The Chinese Insomniacs, deeming the volume 'richly musical.' Jacobsen's first collection since The Shade-Seller is a richly musical volume composed of both rhymed and free verse. The quiet tone at the center of these poems derives from a spare, meditative style. In the title poem, a private 'sorrow, or not' distracts two Chinese poets, living 900 years apart, from sleep; a 'companionable' unrest reaches across the centuries to haunt Jacobsen, and render time meaningless. Gestures, dreams, tears, flowers, spiders are the silent objects of Jacobsen's art. Like the child's game 'Simon Says,' her art, by necessity, attempts to 'distinguish' between the authentic and the merely imitative.
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Poetry's Slant Vision
(summary)
In the following essay, Jacobsen outlines her personal views on the art of writing poetry and delineates the challenges and rewards of well-crafted verse.
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Two Interviews with Josephine Jacobsen
(summary)
In the following interviews, Jacobsen and Sullivan discuss Josephine Jacobsen's tenure as Poetry Consultant to the Library of Congress, her literary methodology, the thematic centrality of power in her work, and her late-career surge in publication, highlighting her dedication to exploring major themes such as courage, love, and change.
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Power as Virtue: The Achievement of Josephine Jacobsen
(summary)
In the following excerpt, Sullivan evaluates the technique, themes, and vision of Jacobsen's poetry, citing her work as demonstrating a “persistent and humane power.”
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Josephine Jacobsen
(summary)
In the following interview, Jacobsen and Parry discuss Jacobsen's literary influences, her unconventional entry into poetry, and her views on the evolving nature of her work, highlighting her belief in artistic risk-taking, the solitary struggle of writing, and the societal influence on contemporary poetry.
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Eyes That Do Not Sleep at Dawn
(summary)
In the following essay, Deen presents Jacobsen's poetic themes and images through an analysis of ten representative poems.
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The Sisters
(summary)
In the following review, Rungren declares Jacobsen's The Sisters to be a work of “careful craft.” Jacobsen's strengths have remained constant through 40 years of work in a variety of forms. Hers is a poetry of careful craft, of a quiet delight in the natural world and a painterly appreciation of light and color. She often employs relationships of distance and circumstance to probe the mystery at the heart of the human condition, whether it be in the finely calibrated closeness of the sisters of the title poem or in the greater division in “The Presences”: “Creatures,” “Clouds,” “Now.” Contrasting circumstances also figure in “April Asylum,” which explores the disjunction between innocence and the horrors of a mental hospital. Including some fine new poems as well as selections from five previous books, this The Sisters is the work of a writer who deserves to be better known.
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The Mystery of Faith: An Interview with Josephine Jacobsen
(summary)
In the following interview, Prettyman explores Jacobsen's poetry themes, highlighting the impact of her childhood experiences, religious faith, and fascination with danger, animals, and time, while Jacobsen reflects on how her personal history and passions have shaped her literary voice.
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Review of The Sisters
(summary)
In the following review, Shaw commends Jacobsen's poetry for “the consistency with which she unites firmness of technique with intelligence and feeling.”
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Josephine Jacobsen, Archeologist of Metaphor
(summary)
In the following essay, Deen highlights Jacobsen's use of insomnia as a metaphor for consciousness, death, and darkness.
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Joy & Terror: The Poems of Josephine Jacobsen
(summary)
In the following essay, Spires summarizes Jacobsen's poetic career, characterizing In the Crevice of Time as honest and direct.
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Poetry Chronicle
(summary)
In the following excerpt, Mason admires the “precision” and “formal affirmations” of Jacobsen's poetry, but criticizes its sometimes awkward and opaque language.
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Of Shoemakers and Snails
(summary)
In the following excerpt, Reeve illustrates the ways in which Jacobsen's poetry has adapted to different social climates throughout her career.
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A Conversation with Josephine Jacobsen
(summary)
In the following interview, Christie explores Jacobsen's reflections on her poetic influences, her experiences with transience during childhood, the recurring themes of loss and familiarity in her work, and her views on the integration of humor and grandeur in poetry.
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Questions of Style
(summary)
- Further Reading