User talk:AngieBradford101

JOHN LARS ZWERENZ — Preceding unsigned comment added by 173.68.75.19 (talk) 03:17, 20 October 2019 (UTC)

John Lars Zwerenz is a contemporary American poet, considered one of the most important new literary figures in the world. [1]

Biography

Early Life

After graduating with a B.A. in English Letters from New York's Queens College in 1992, Zwerenz already owned a rather moody reputation among his classmates and professors. Although he excelled in classical literature in Graduate School, after several failed attempts at earning a conservative living Zwerenz left his home city of New York for places such as California, London and Paris. He often survived in states of abject poverty by depending on the generosity of mostly strangers. [2]

A Poet's Life

It was during these years of incessant travel that Zwerenz found his own unique poetic voice, a voice heavily influenced by the constant reading of the 19th Century's Romantic Symbolists. In addition to the French Parnassians, Zwerenz immersed himself in the verse of Byron, Shelley, Edgar Poe and other, lesser known French poets such as Gerard Nerval. As of January, 2018, Zwerenz has produced nine books of poetry, a great many of which were written during these days of frequent excursions. [3]

Success

In February of 2017, out of over 1 million books of poetry on Amazon, Zwerenz's eighth volume of rhyme, "Elysian Meadows", achieved the number 1 ranked position on Amazon's best seller's list for all poetry books where it remained for three weeks. His books continue to sell well in stores and online and are unusually very highly priced, both in collegiate bookstores and on the general marketplace. Many of his writings are being taught in poetry classes both in The U.S. and especially in England as "representing the very best in modern romantic verse". [4] [5] [6]

Criticism

While Zwerenz's nine poetic volumes have enjoyed healthy sales and broad exposure in The UK and in The States, he is not without his detractors. Zwerenz often has shied away from both main stream and social media and as a consequence his reputation as a public figure or as a notable person has been diminished in spite of his success. In addition, many critics have frequently labeled his verse as "antiquated" and "anachronistic".

Literary Style

Zwerenz's writing style tends to emphasize emotion over the intellect, and in many cases he relies on visionary and impressionistic elements in order to convey his poetic narratives.

Related Work

Zwerenz currently serves as the official poetry writer for Emage Magazine, an international arts publication and for several years he worked as a freelance journalist in New York City. He is also the author of several widely published essays on various topics, mostly dealing with poetic, theological and political themes. [7][8]

Personal Life

A self-professed Roman Catholic, Zwerenz has a politically conservative reputation, and rarely gives public interviews. He lives with his family in The United States.

Bibliography

Selected Poems (2011) Mist and Flame (2011) Visionary Wanderings (2012) Sonnets of Dusk and Dawn (2012) A Lady Fair and Other Poems (2013) Eternal Verse (2013) Ecstasy and Other Poems (2016) Elysian Meadows (2017) The Gilded Sun: and other verse (2017)

References

[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]

Notes: [4] 'The Gilded Sun' by John Zwerenz' was assigned for me to read this fall semester in my senior English Lit Class. Although I am not very enthusiastic when it comes to modern poetry books, as many of them fail to meet expectations, this one was very different in many serendipitous ways. Zwerenz's poetry is classic....

AngieBradford101 (talk) 21:28, 20 December 2017 (UTC) Angela Bradford