Richard Kenney
Encyclopedia
Richard L. Kenney is a poet
and professor
of English
at the University of Washington
. He is the author of four books of poetry: The Evolution of the Flightless Bird, Orrery, The Invention of the Zero, and The One-Strand River.
.
After graduating from Dartmouth College
in 1970, Kenney won a Reynolds Fellowship and studied Celtic
lore in Ireland
, Scotland
, and Wales
. He teaches in the English department at the University of Washington
and has published in many magazines and journals, including The New Yorker
, The Atlantic Monthly
, and The American Scholar
. Kenney and his family live in Port Townsend, Washington
.
influenced him the most, and, fittingly so, his third book, The Invention of the Zero, is dedicated to him. Other notable influences include W.B. Yeats, Gerard Manley Hopkins
, Robert Lowell
, and Philip Larkin
.
The Invention of the Zero was also specifically influenced by:
•John McPhee
--his geological treatises echoes the persona of 'The Invention of the Zero.'
•Samuel Beckett
--evident influence in 'Epilog: Read Only Memory.'
•James Joyce
--similar in abundant usage of "puns, exotic allusions, and the artist-as-the-creator theme."
•Ezra Pound
--Kenney's style mirrors Pound's "rapid-fire imagery"
• Greco-Roman mythologies, biblical and historical references, and hypothetical prehistoric landmasses
Taken from Holinger's review in The Midwest Quarterly. See Bibliography.
•The Evolution of the Flightless Bird, Yale University Press, 1984
•Orrery, Atheneum, 1985
•The Invention of the Zero, Knopf (New York), 1993
Written from a personal perspective of life on a farm, this in itself completely differentiates the varying approaches used in The Invention of The Zero and Orrery in tackling the subject of technological advance. Rather than possessing the mechanical, abstract, and computerized images of The Invention of The Zero, Orrery contains images of time, seasons, and nature. "The two books rescue each other. The Invention of the Zero answers Orrery, [The Invention of The Zero] is darker."
1: a construction built to represent the motion of the universe.
, all examine the history of the universe and its evolution from the Big Bang
to the invention of computers to the development of the atomic bomb. Free verse and with extravagant style, The Invention of the Zero provokes questions about invention and whether or not technology has actually helped humanity or just furthered the disparity between science and different aspects of faith.
In writing The Invention of the Zero, Kenney says that he "was on the edge of [his] powers imaginatively. The material would grow and retract on a daily basis, and it was definitely an experiment, and emotionally draining." Though the Lannan Literary Award is accredited in acknowledging all of Kenney's books, the publication of The Invention of the Zero is what really won it for him.
An influential poet and person in Kenney's life, Merrill reviews and gets the audience ready for The Evolution of the Flightless Bird. Not containing much summary due to the article's purpose, the foreword does, however, put a few scenes into layman's terms. Other than that, this serves as a very well-written review.
He starts out by admitting that Kenney chose a topic unfamiliar and more abstract than what people would normally be used to. Undercutting this idea, however, he argues that without doing so, the breadth and depth of Kenney's poetry as well as that of poetry in general, would be very limited. "With its agreeable eddies of temperament, reflections that braid and shatter only to recompose downstream, this book moves like a river in a country of ponds." Then Merrill continues to illustrate Kenney's stylistic approach by praisefully describing the beautiful imagery that he creates by combining, or "doubling," select words. He goes further as to describe Kenney's stylistic approach as "rendering a given scene in sound so artful and imagery so burnished by myth that words appear to have found their poet."
→Jay Parnini. "Orrery." The Nation 1986, The Nation Company L.P.
Though Parnini's article is mainly about Orrery, the first two paragraphs do provide some critical review of The Evolution of the Flightless Bird. Parnini also takes the same defensive approach as Merrill, admitting the obscurity obtained at times due to the "complicated thought" and "intricate patterns in [Kenney's] language," but undermining it with the higher goal—achievement of originality. He says that it "was more than decorative; it was intellectually and spiritually ambitious."
→Jay Parnini. "Star Turns." The Nation April 26, 1986, Vol. 242 Issue 16, p594-595, 2p. Book Review.
Polar opposite to Muratori's criticism, "Star Turns" praises and constantly defends Kenney's book, calling it "a dazzling, book-length 'poem of the mind.'" Parnini claims that the central goal of Orrery is to rediscover "the sensible order of nature" that Kenney was able to find and experience during his time on the farm. Kenney, he argues, is looking for "the unified physical and moral world seemingly 'blown to [pieces]' by the sense of relativity that governs contemporary life." Summarizing the three different sections of the book, he describes how they all mesh together, linking 'Hours' to 'Physics' and 'Apples' to all three.
→Fred Muratori. "Kenney, Richard. Orrerry." Cornell University Library Journal Nov 15, 1985, Vol. 110 Issue 19, p100, 1/8p. Brief Book Review.
With extreme sarcasm, Muratori ridicules not only the subject of the book, but also the style as well. Granting Kenney stylistic ability, he takes it to a level of sarcasm by comparing Orrery to a display of fireworks. It is overly bombastic in opinion because of its briefness. Were he able to write more and include more analytic evidence, this review might not be a bad source for negative criticism.
→Susan Lasher. "The Poet as curator". Parnassus: Poetry in Review 1994, Vol. 19 Issue 2. Book review.
Basically bashing the book, Lasher argues that it is a gaudy bundle of fancy language with no true meaning. She says that it is simply a "hodgepodge of language" trying to cram too many concepts together with the only intention of impressing his audience with the extravagance of his diction and style. Though admitting that "Kenney's linguistic acrobatics can be dazzling," Lasher concludes to say that his overly self-consciousness causes his "artificial style" to be too distracting.
She contends that the goal of the book is "to answer the question of how poetry can represent human experience when the world is no longer perceptible by human sense" because it is overrun with technology. However, she argues that this is done poorly because the book is too materialistic and historical in its subject matter, leaving no room for the imagination or for the involvement of the human experience. "Because it [is] so fixated on the hierarchies of the past, [The Invention of the Zero] invents nothing." It concentrates on "the energies of history rather than by the discoveries of self."
→Phoebe Pettingell. "The Invention of the Zero." The New Leader Sept 6, 1993. Book review.
Essentially Pettingell's review just summarizes the book, detailing the content of its four different sections, and lacking the negative criticism found in Lasher's review. However, this review argues that the book has a different goal than described by Lasher. Pettingell argues that the true goal of The Invention of the Zero is to question the validity of inventing and to explore the disparity that invention has caused between science and the humanities. What are the "consequences of human ingenuity[?]" "Does every invention result in destruction?" Has faith diminished because technology has flourished? Kenney, Pettingell says, "strives for a wholeness of understanding"--a middle ground--"that might restore meaning and hope to our earthly endeavors."
→Richard Hollinger. "The Invention of the Zero." The Midwest Quarterly Summer 1996
Basically unbiased, Hollinger's review lists many of Kenney's influences, citing textual references throughout the book. In a way, however, Hollinger agrees with Lasher's take on Kenney's conglomerate style without necessarily agreeing. While he does say that "the poem's rapid-fire imagery" leaves "the reader left to connect disparate metaphors and references," Hollinger does not go into further detail or analysis on the subject. He does, however, praise Kenney's "adroit use of alliteration, consonance, and assonance," going further to call The Invention of the Zero an "epic rendition of creation"—but not in the religious sense. Hollinger says that "the book's subject is nothing less than the history of the universe, from Chaos and the Big Bang to the invention of the computer."
→(Brief Article.) "The Invention of the Zero." Publishers Weekly July 19, 1993
Though very short, this article combines summary with a twist of review, leaning a bit in the same direction as Lasher's. It says that The Invention of the Zero "does not always choose to involve us in mystery on a human scale," but rather it is "that 'inhuman light' [that] seems to be his poetic focus."
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
and professor
Professor
A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...
of English
English literature
English literature is the literature written in the English language, including literature composed in English by writers not necessarily from England; for example, Robert Burns was Scottish, James Joyce was Irish, Joseph Conrad was Polish, Dylan Thomas was Welsh, Edgar Allan Poe was American, J....
at the University of Washington
University of Washington
University of Washington is a public research university, founded in 1861 in Seattle, Washington, United States. The UW is the largest university in the Northwest and the oldest public university on the West Coast. The university has three campuses, with its largest campus in the University...
. He is the author of four books of poetry: The Evolution of the Flightless Bird, Orrery, The Invention of the Zero, and The One-Strand River.
Biography
Richard Kenney was born to Laurence and Martha (Clare) Kenney on August 10, 1948 in Glens Falls, New YorkGlens Falls, New York
Glens Falls is a city in Warren County, New York, United States. Glens Falls Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 14,700 at the 2010 census...
.
After graduating from Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College is a private, Ivy League university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. The institution comprises a liberal arts college, Dartmouth Medical School, Thayer School of Engineering, and the Tuck School of Business, as well as 19 graduate programs in the arts and sciences...
in 1970, Kenney won a Reynolds Fellowship and studied Celtic
Celtic mythology
Celtic mythology is the mythology of Celtic polytheism, apparently the religion of the Iron Age Celts. Like other Iron Age Europeans, the early Celts maintained a polytheistic mythology and religious structure...
lore in Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
, Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
, and Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
. He teaches in the English department at the University of Washington
University of Washington
University of Washington is a public research university, founded in 1861 in Seattle, Washington, United States. The UW is the largest university in the Northwest and the oldest public university on the West Coast. The university has three campuses, with its largest campus in the University...
and has published in many magazines and journals, including The New Yorker
The New Yorker
The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
, The Atlantic Monthly
The Atlantic Monthly
The Atlantic is an American magazine founded in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1857. It was created as a literary and cultural commentary magazine. It quickly achieved a national reputation, which it held for more than a century. It was important for recognizing and publishing new writers and poets,...
, and The American Scholar
The American Scholar (magazine)
The American Scholar is the literary quarterly of the Phi Beta Kappa Society, founded in 1932. The magazine has won fourteen National Magazine Awards from the American Society of Magazine Editors from 1999 to present, including awards for General Excellence...
. Kenney and his family live in Port Townsend, Washington
Port Townsend, Washington
Port Townsend is a city in Jefferson County, Washington, United States, approximately north-northwest of Seattle . The population was 9,113 at the 2010 census an increase of 9.3% over the 2000 census. It is the county seat and only incorporated city of Jefferson County...
.
Achievements & Awards
- 1983 Yale Series of Younger Poets Prize, Yale University Press, for The Evolution of the Flightless Bird
- 1985 John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation fellow
- 1986 Peter I. B. Lavan Younger Poet Award, Academy of American Poets
- 1986 American Academy in Rome fellowship in literature, American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters
- 1987 John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation fellow
- 1994 Lannan Literary Award, $50,000
- 2002 Bogliasco Foundation Fellow
Influences
Drawing from many great writers and thinkers throughout time, Kenney often includes references to them in his works. James MerrillJames Merrill
James Ingram Merrill was an American poet whose awards include the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for Divine Comedies...
influenced him the most, and, fittingly so, his third book, The Invention of the Zero, is dedicated to him. Other notable influences include W.B. Yeats, Gerard Manley Hopkins
Gerard Manley Hopkins
Gerard Manley Hopkins, S.J. was an English poet, Roman Catholic convert, and Jesuit priest, whose posthumous 20th-century fame established him among the leading Victorian poets...
, Robert Lowell
Robert Lowell
Robert Traill Spence Lowell IV was an American poet, considered the founder of the confessional poetry movement. He was appointed the sixth Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress where he served from 1947 until 1948...
, and Philip Larkin
Philip Larkin
Philip Arthur Larkin, CH, CBE, FRSL is widely regarded as one of the great English poets of the latter half of the twentieth century...
.
The Invention of the Zero was also specifically influenced by:
•John McPhee
John McPhee
John Angus McPhee is an American Pulitzer Prize-winning writer, widely considered one of the pioneers of creative nonfiction....
--his geological treatises echoes the persona of 'The Invention of the Zero.'
•Samuel Beckett
Samuel Beckett
Samuel Barclay Beckett was an Irish avant-garde novelist, playwright, theatre director, and poet. He wrote both in English and French. His work offers a bleak, tragicomic outlook on human nature, often coupled with black comedy and gallows humour.Beckett is widely regarded as among the most...
--evident influence in 'Epilog: Read Only Memory.'
•James Joyce
James Joyce
James Augustine Aloysius Joyce was an Irish novelist and poet, considered to be one of the most influential writers in the modernist avant-garde of the early 20th century...
--similar in abundant usage of "puns, exotic allusions, and the artist-as-the-creator theme."
•Ezra Pound
Ezra Pound
Ezra Weston Loomis Pound was an American expatriate poet and critic and a major figure in the early modernist movement in poetry...
--Kenney's style mirrors Pound's "rapid-fire imagery"
• Greco-Roman mythologies, biblical and historical references, and hypothetical prehistoric landmasses
Taken from Holinger's review in The Midwest Quarterly. See Bibliography.
Works
Known for having an avalanching and original style, James Merrill best sums it up in his foreword to The Evolution of the Flightless Bird:
"The poetic wheels just spin and spin, getting nowhere fast. But Kenney--it's what one likes best about him--nearly always has an end in view, a story to tell."
•The Evolution of the Flightless Bird, Yale University Press, 1984
•Orrery, Atheneum, 1985
•The Invention of the Zero, Knopf (New York), 1993
The Evolution of the Flightless Bird
Noted for winning the Series of Younger Poets competition in 1983, The Evolution of the Flightless Bird is the first of four books that Kenney has published so far. Contest judge James Merrill praised its daring stylistic approach in the forward. Containing three sections of poetry ('The Hours of the Day,' 'First Poems,' and 'Heroes'), the book is made up of "not well-wrought urns so much as complex molecules programmed to coalesce into larger structures" (Merrill, Foreword). But what makes this book stand out is not that it consists of multiple sonnets, but that the delivery is so original and so far-fetched that its publication sparked much discussion about Kenney's style. A book with images varying from sea to battle scenes, The Evolution of the Flightless Bird marks the beginning of Kenney's career as a poet.Orrery
Metaphorically centered around the title1, Orrery is a single story told from the inclusion of well over 70 poems written in different styles and divided into three main sections: 'Hours' (time), 'Apples' (memory), and 'Physics.' A prelude of sorts to The Invention of the Zero, Orrery poses the belief that the world is now being mechanically driven, but it presents the view in a different fashion. The book centers around a long poem based on his experience at an apple cider farm in Vermont; 'Apples.' To Kenney, the cider mill represents "a relic of that pre-electrical world...A comprehensible world, in many ways...None of it seems to have left this farm, at any rate--...crippled dance steps, disassembled stories, half-hummed tunes, all common property--disintegration projects...with the confusion of common sense, as it sometimes seems, from the decay of the clockwork universe" (Orrery ix, Kenney). It is that "pre-electrical world" that Kenney is seeking. Somewhere along the way, in the midst of a technologically advancing contemporary life, the unification of nature and time disintegrated to bits and pieces, remnants of a former mosaic, of a former sensibility.Written from a personal perspective of life on a farm, this in itself completely differentiates the varying approaches used in The Invention of The Zero and Orrery in tackling the subject of technological advance. Rather than possessing the mechanical, abstract, and computerized images of The Invention of The Zero, Orrery contains images of time, seasons, and nature. "The two books rescue each other. The Invention of the Zero answers Orrery, [The Invention of The Zero] is darker."
1: a construction built to represent the motion of the universe.
The Invention of the Zero
Taking Kenney ten years to write, The Invention of the Zero features six long poems: A 'Colloquy of Ancient Men,' 'The Invention of the Zero,' 'The Encantadas,' 'Typhoon,' 'Lucifer,' and 'Epilog: Read Only Memory.' All tell one story, however. Though four are set in World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, all examine the history of the universe and its evolution from the Big Bang
Big Bang
The Big Bang theory is the prevailing cosmological model that explains the early development of the Universe. According to the Big Bang theory, the Universe was once in an extremely hot and dense state which expanded rapidly. This rapid expansion caused the young Universe to cool and resulted in...
to the invention of computers to the development of the atomic bomb. Free verse and with extravagant style, The Invention of the Zero provokes questions about invention and whether or not technology has actually helped humanity or just furthered the disparity between science and different aspects of faith.
In writing The Invention of the Zero, Kenney says that he "was on the edge of [his] powers imaginatively. The material would grow and retract on a daily basis, and it was definitely an experiment, and emotionally draining." Though the Lannan Literary Award is accredited in acknowledging all of Kenney's books, the publication of The Invention of the Zero is what really won it for him.
Criticism
The following is a review of multiple criticisms, providing a brief summary of each book review.The Evolution of the Flightless Bird
→James Merrill. "Foreword." The Evolution of the Flightless Bird 1984, Yale University Press. Foreword.An influential poet and person in Kenney's life, Merrill reviews and gets the audience ready for The Evolution of the Flightless Bird. Not containing much summary due to the article's purpose, the foreword does, however, put a few scenes into layman's terms. Other than that, this serves as a very well-written review.
He starts out by admitting that Kenney chose a topic unfamiliar and more abstract than what people would normally be used to. Undercutting this idea, however, he argues that without doing so, the breadth and depth of Kenney's poetry as well as that of poetry in general, would be very limited. "With its agreeable eddies of temperament, reflections that braid and shatter only to recompose downstream, this book moves like a river in a country of ponds." Then Merrill continues to illustrate Kenney's stylistic approach by praisefully describing the beautiful imagery that he creates by combining, or "doubling," select words. He goes further as to describe Kenney's stylistic approach as "rendering a given scene in sound so artful and imagery so burnished by myth that words appear to have found their poet."
→Jay Parnini. "Orrery." The Nation 1986, The Nation Company L.P.
Though Parnini's article is mainly about Orrery, the first two paragraphs do provide some critical review of The Evolution of the Flightless Bird. Parnini also takes the same defensive approach as Merrill, admitting the obscurity obtained at times due to the "complicated thought" and "intricate patterns in [Kenney's] language," but undermining it with the higher goal—achievement of originality. He says that it "was more than decorative; it was intellectually and spiritually ambitious."
Orrery
Though both reviews do not agree on whether or not the book was written well, they both agree on the subject matter and on Kenney's use of fanciful language.→Jay Parnini. "Star Turns." The Nation April 26, 1986, Vol. 242 Issue 16, p594-595, 2p. Book Review.
Polar opposite to Muratori's criticism, "Star Turns" praises and constantly defends Kenney's book, calling it "a dazzling, book-length 'poem of the mind.'" Parnini claims that the central goal of Orrery is to rediscover "the sensible order of nature" that Kenney was able to find and experience during his time on the farm. Kenney, he argues, is looking for "the unified physical and moral world seemingly 'blown to [pieces]' by the sense of relativity that governs contemporary life." Summarizing the three different sections of the book, he describes how they all mesh together, linking 'Hours' to 'Physics' and 'Apples' to all three.
→Fred Muratori. "Kenney, Richard. Orrerry." Cornell University Library Journal Nov 15, 1985, Vol. 110 Issue 19, p100, 1/8p. Brief Book Review.
With extreme sarcasm, Muratori ridicules not only the subject of the book, but also the style as well. Granting Kenney stylistic ability, he takes it to a level of sarcasm by comparing Orrery to a display of fireworks. It is overly bombastic in opinion because of its briefness. Were he able to write more and include more analytic evidence, this review might not be a bad source for negative criticism.
The Invention of the Zero
All of the listed reviews agree about the evident influence on Kenney of many great writers and thinkers of the past. They also all agree that he uses elaborate scientific and historical diction in The Invention of the Zero.→Susan Lasher. "The Poet as curator". Parnassus: Poetry in Review 1994, Vol. 19 Issue 2. Book review.
Basically bashing the book, Lasher argues that it is a gaudy bundle of fancy language with no true meaning. She says that it is simply a "hodgepodge of language" trying to cram too many concepts together with the only intention of impressing his audience with the extravagance of his diction and style. Though admitting that "Kenney's linguistic acrobatics can be dazzling," Lasher concludes to say that his overly self-consciousness causes his "artificial style" to be too distracting.
She contends that the goal of the book is "to answer the question of how poetry can represent human experience when the world is no longer perceptible by human sense" because it is overrun with technology. However, she argues that this is done poorly because the book is too materialistic and historical in its subject matter, leaving no room for the imagination or for the involvement of the human experience. "Because it [is] so fixated on the hierarchies of the past, [The Invention of the Zero] invents nothing." It concentrates on "the energies of history rather than by the discoveries of self."
→Phoebe Pettingell. "The Invention of the Zero." The New Leader Sept 6, 1993. Book review.
Essentially Pettingell's review just summarizes the book, detailing the content of its four different sections, and lacking the negative criticism found in Lasher's review. However, this review argues that the book has a different goal than described by Lasher. Pettingell argues that the true goal of The Invention of the Zero is to question the validity of inventing and to explore the disparity that invention has caused between science and the humanities. What are the "consequences of human ingenuity[?]" "Does every invention result in destruction?" Has faith diminished because technology has flourished? Kenney, Pettingell says, "strives for a wholeness of understanding"--a middle ground--"that might restore meaning and hope to our earthly endeavors."
→Richard Hollinger. "The Invention of the Zero." The Midwest Quarterly Summer 1996
Basically unbiased, Hollinger's review lists many of Kenney's influences, citing textual references throughout the book. In a way, however, Hollinger agrees with Lasher's take on Kenney's conglomerate style without necessarily agreeing. While he does say that "the poem's rapid-fire imagery" leaves "the reader left to connect disparate metaphors and references," Hollinger does not go into further detail or analysis on the subject. He does, however, praise Kenney's "adroit use of alliteration, consonance, and assonance," going further to call The Invention of the Zero an "epic rendition of creation"—but not in the religious sense. Hollinger says that "the book's subject is nothing less than the history of the universe, from Chaos and the Big Bang to the invention of the computer."
→(Brief Article.) "The Invention of the Zero." Publishers Weekly July 19, 1993
Though very short, this article combines summary with a twist of review, leaning a bit in the same direction as Lasher's. It says that The Invention of the Zero "does not always choose to involve us in mystery on a human scale," but rather it is "that 'inhuman light' [that] seems to be his poetic focus."
Links
- Kenney '70 wins poetry prize Contains an interview with Kenney in which he describes his creative process.
- How I Used To Wish Contains a poem written by Kenney in 1995.