Wild Poets of Ecstacy: An Anthology of Ecstatic Verse

“Can an anthology of poetry be called a breakthrough? This one is. For over a century canonical literature in general and poetry in particular have been prisoners of an academic posture which elevates the voices of despair depression and alienation to high culture and relegates those of optimism joy and well-being to the superficial and ill-informed. D.J. Moores in a courageous departure from this convention has crafted a soaring collection of exuberant joyful and ecstatic verse. The general reader must be grateful to him for envisioning nothing less than a Positive Humanities.” MARTIN SELIGMAN Fox Leadership Professor of Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania and former President of the American Psychological Association “While teaching Dantes Paradiso I kidded the class that I was done with critique. I wanted to take up Paradise Studies. This anthology is a lot closer than I thought scholarship and good taste were likely to come to such studies. Its rendering of the varieties of ecstatic experience is as thrilling as it is informative.” CHARLES ALTIERI Professor of English at the University of California-Berkeley and author of The Particulars of Rapture “In a dark time it is salutary to be reminded of the many varieties of light still available to us in the work of poets from Homer to the present. D.J. Moores has given us that gift in this new anthology.” DON FREDERICKSON Professor of Film at Cornell University and Chairman International Association for Jungian Studies “Sometimes both ordinary language and the language of science fail to capture what we experience what we want to say to speak of or about. So it is with ecstatic experience. D.J. Moores has given us a treasure trove a book meant for grazing for feeling ones way into the poetic language in which near as we can commonplace experiences of unusual positive states of mind can be met evoked recalled and valued in the ways they deserve in a rich meaningful human life.” OWEN FLANAGAN James B. Duke Professor of Philosophy and Neurobiology at Duke University former President of the Society for Philosophy and Psychology and author of The Nature of Consciousness “The various voices of the poets Moores brings together in this inspiring anthology remind us that ecstasy is a common human experience and invite us to reconnect with our own ecstatic moments. The critical introduction an insightful and remarkably wide-ranging analysis of this aspect of human experience demonstrates that ecstasy can be as complex as tragedy—and at least as important—and advances the cause of a much-needed positive turn in literary theory and the humanities in general.” JAMES PAWELSKI Director of Education and Senior Scholar in Positive Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania Executive Director of the International Positive Psychology Association and author of The Dynamic Individualism of William James