From the Mountain, From the Valley: New and Collected Poems / Edition 1

by James Still

Overview

James Still first achieved national recognition in the 1930s as a poet. Although he is better known today as a writer of fiction, it is his poetry that many of his essential images, such as the "mighty river of earth," first found expression. Yet much of his poetry remains out of print or difficult to find.

From the Mountain, From the Valley collects all of Still's poems, including several never before published, and corrects editorial mistakes that crept into previous collections. The poems are presented in chronological order, allowing the reader to trace the evolution of Still's voice. Throughout, his language is fresh and vigorous and his insight profound. His respect for people and place never sounds sentimental or dated.

Ted Olson's introduction recounts Still's early literary career and explores the poetic origins of his acclaimed lyrical prose. Still himself has contributed the illuminating autobiographical essay "A Man Singing to Himself," which will appeal to every lover of his work.

James Still, the first poet laureate of Kentucky, recipient of two Guggenheim Fellowships and many other awards and honors, is the author of numerous works, including his masterful novel River of Earth.

Ted Olson, associate professor of Appalachian studies and English at East Tennessee State University, is the author of Blue Ridge Folklife and the editor of CrossRoads: A Southern Culture Annual.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780813191324
Publisher:	University Press of Kentucky
Publication date:	03/01/2005
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	176
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

James Still (1906–2001) wrote several works of fiction and poetry including River of Earth, The Wolfpen Poems, and From the Mountain, From the Valley.

Table of Contents

	Preface	1
	A Man Singing to Himself: An Autobiographical Essay	5
	The Poems
	Dreams	27
	Burned Tree	28
	Fallow Years	29
	The Bright Road	30
	Artifacts	31
	Answer	32
	Let This Hill Rest	33
	Lambs	34
	Swift Were Their Feet	35
	Wilderness	36
	Dulcimer	37
	Horse Swapping	38
	Mountain Fox Hunt	39
	Infare	40
	When the Dulcimers Are Gone	41
	Reckoning	42
	Heritage	43
	Death on the Mountain	44
	Shield of Hills	45
	Uncle Ambrose	46
	Clabe Mott	47
	The Hill-Born	48
	Aftergrass	49
	Child in the Hills	50
	Passenger Pigeons	51
	Farm	52
	Fox Hunt on Defeated Creek	53
	Foal	54
	Post Offices	55
	Earth-Bread	56
	On Troublesome Creek	57
	Interval	58
	Graveyard	59
	Tracks on Stone	60
	Coal Town	61
	Fiddlers' Convention on Troublesome Creek	62
	Journey Beyond the Hills	63
	Rain on the Cumberlands	64
	Dance on Pushback	65
	I Was Born Humble	67
	On Redbird Creek	68
	Pattern for Death	69
	Yesteryear's People	70
	A Hillsman Speaks	71
	Spring	72
	Hounds on the Mountain	73
	Horseback in the Rain	74
	With Hands Like Leaves	75
	River of Earth	76
	White Highways	77
	Court Day	78
	On Double Creek	79
	Night in the Coal Camps	80
	Epitaph for Uncle Ira Combs, Mountain Preacher	81
	Nixie Middleton	82
	Come Down from the Hills	83
	Eyes in the Grass	84
	On Buckhorn Creek	85
	Year of the Pigeons	86
	Where the Mares Have Fed	88
	A Man Singing to Himself	89
	Now Has Day Come	90
	I Shall Go Singing	91
	Leap, Minnows, Leap	92
	Morning: Dead Mare Branch	93
	A Child's Wisdom	94
	Banjo Bill Cornett	95
	Fiddle	96
	Mountain Men Are Free	97
	Hill-Lonely	98
	Death in the Hills	99
	This Man Dying	100
	Granny Frolic	101
	Passing of a County Sheriff	102
	Drought	103
	Apples	104
	The Broken Ibis	105
	Early Whippoorwill	106
	Abandoned House	107
	Wolfpen Creek	108
	Apple Trip	109
	Funnel Spider	110
	The Trees in the Road	111
	Lamp	112
	Man O' War	113
	Lizard	114
	On Being Drafted into the U.S. Army from My Log Home in March 1942	115
	Candidate	116
	Winter Tree	117
	"Welcome, Somewhat, Despite the Disorder"	118
	Of the Wild Man	119
	Day of Flowers	120
	Hunter	121
	Are You Up There, Bad Jack?	122
	Visitor	123
	The Common Crow	124
	After Some Twenty Years Attempting to Describe a Flowering Branch of Redbud	125
	On the Passing of My Brother Alfred	126
	What Have You Heard Lately?	127
	Madly to Learn	128
	High Field	129
	Unemployed Coal Miner	130
	Apples in the Well	131
	Death of a Fox	132
	In My Dreaming	133
	Here in My Bed	134
	Yesterday in Belize	135
	Artist	136
	Of the Faithful	137
	Knife Trader	138
	Truck Driver	139
	Okra King	140
	Could It Be	141
	Of Concern	142
	Dove	143
	Here and Now	144
	Mine Is a Wide Estate	145
	My Aunt Carrie	146
	Mrs. Lloyd, Her Rag Sale	147
	Recollection	148
	At Year's End	149
	Those I Want in Heaven with Me Should There Be Such a Place	150
	My Days	151
	Bibliography	153
	Index of Titles	161
	Index of First Lines	164

Editorial Reviews

Still's is the distinctive voice of Appalachia, and we are most fortunate to have his best work in this single beautiful volume.

in the Louisville Courier-Journal Frederick Smock

Still says so much is already written on the natural parchment of leaves that he can but fold his hands and sink his knees into the leaf-pages, but the pages of his poetry revitalize nature and communicate what mere physical reality cannot.

Magill's Literary Annual 2002

He gave voice to the people of eastern Kentucky.

Appalachian Quarterly

This book is a clear candidate for the most outstanding single book of poetry ever to emerge from the Appalachian region.

Appalachian Heritage

The best poetry lingers in your soul like the tone after the final chime of a great bell. James Still, who adopted Kentucky as his home early in the 1930s and became its first poet laureate, left us with enduring notes in the collection From the Mountain, From the Valley: New and Collected Poems.

Louisville Courier-Journal

Only a poet of considerable ability can speak so clearly and eloquently, reminding one of what one already knows, has—perhaps—experienced and half forgotten, adding new insights to one's experience of the world.

Journal of the Jackson Purchase Historical Society

This volume provides a carefully edited, beautifully presented retrospective of his life and poetry, one which will appeal to general readers and will provide material for students and scholars, memories for friends and admirers, and meaningful echoes for all residents of Appalachia.

Appalachian Journal

Shines with his homespun humanity and eastern Kentucky roots. The 123 poems offer a wisdom, humor, and language that Still so fluidly delivers.

Troublesome Creek Times

The true value of this book is to reintroduce a modern readership to Still's poetry on its own terms.

Kentucky Monthly

In the '30s and '40s, James Still published poetry and fiction in every major literary venue, but his death this year went virtually unnoticed everywhere but Kentucky, where he was the poet laureate. The slight is unfortunate because Still was in many ways one of the founders of Appalachian studies. Born in 1906 on an Alabama cotton farm, Still eventually began teaching in eastern Kentucky, where he found a home and a subject that would occupy his life. Still recorded "living language" and found that poetry was in the air around him. The power of his work is expressed in the images and the sounds of Appalachian folk speech. Still's book recalls readers to the rich texture of sounds that constitute the English language in America.
—Stephen Whited

Still works in traditional lyric forms and with traditional lyric tools. Rarely does a poem need a second page. The best poems are tight and demonstrate a quiet mastery, even a humble virtuosity.

Journal of Appalachian Studies

Still demonstrates equal ability to write with precision, beauty, and technique, and perhaps, with more consistency, which is what makes this collection quite remarkable.

Appalachian Life Magazine

My choice for book of the year. Still's poetry is a literary response to all the questions of living and dying. His poetry is lyrical and deeply emotional. It is firmly grounded in the natural world, especially the mountains and streams, the birds and trees and rocks and animals of eastern Kentucky.

Maysville Ledger-Independent

The power of his work is expressed in the images and the sounds of Appalachian folk speech. Still's book recalls readers to the rich texture of sounds that constitute the English language in America.

Book

James Still is one of our greatest American poets. In particular he has captured the spirit and language of the Appalachian South—his own beloved patch of ground in eastern Kentucky—like no other. He is a writer of passion and principle whose poems remain fresh and vivid, stirring the soul.

Lee Smith

Any Kentuckian who reads should own this book. It is a book about us, who we were and who we are, and a book about the dark and lovely place where we live.

Lexington Herald-Leader

The work of a man accomplished in gentleness, humorousness, compassion, and clarity.

Wendell Berry

If you are not impressed—if you are new to Still and you're not astonished—then possibly literature isn't your strong suit after all.

Oxford American

With its unabashed lyricism, Still's work chronicles his transcendence among the mountaineers, their culture, struggles, and land.

Bloomsbury Review

One of our greatest American poets for almost sixty years, James Still (1906-2001) was the voice of Appalachia.

McCormick (SC) Messenger

The power of his work is expressed in the images and the sounds of Appalachian folk speech. Still's book recalls readers to the rich texture of sounds that constitute the English language in America.

Book Sr

"Still's is the distinctive voice of Appalachia, and we are most fortunate to have his best work in this single beautiful volume." — Frederick Smock, in the Louisville Courier-Journal

"Still works in traditional lyric forms and with traditional lyric tools. Rarely does a poem need a second page. The best poems are tight and demonstrate a quiet mastery, even a humble virtuosity." — Journal of Appalachian Studies

"Offers the opportunity to look back and examine and appreciate the work of a man widely regarded as one of the masters of Appalachian literature." — Journal of Appalachian Studies

"Only a poet of considerable ability can speak so clearly and eloquently, reminding one of what one already knows, has — perhaps — experienced and half forgotten, adding new insights to one's experience of the world." — Journal of the Jackson Purchase Historical Society

"The true value of this book is to reintroduce a modern readership to Still's poetry on its own terms." — Kentucky Monthly

"James Still is one of our greatest American poets. In particular he has captured the spirit and language of the Appalachian South — his own beloved patch of ground in eastern Kentucky — like no other. He is a writer of passion and principle whose poems remain fresh and vivid, stirring the soul." — Lee Smith

"Any Kentuckian who reads should own this book. It is a book about us, who we were and who we are, and a book about the dark and lovely place where we live." — Lexington Herald-Leader

"The best poetry lingers in your soul like the tone after the final chime of a great bell. James Still, who adopted Kentucky as his home early in the 1930s and became its first poet laureate, left us with enduring notes in the collection From the Mountain, From the Valley: New and Collected Poems." — Louisville Courier-Journal

"Still says so much is already written on the natural parchment of leaves that he can but fold his hands and sink his knees into the leaf-pages, but the pages of his poetry revitalize nature and communicate what mere physical reality cannot." — Magill's Literary Annual 2002

"My choice for book of the year. Still's poetry is a literary response to all the questions of living and dying. His poetry is lyrical and deeply emotional. It is firmly grounded in the natural world, especially the mountains and streams, the birds and trees and rocks and animals of eastern Kentucky." — Maysville Ledger-Independent

"One of our greatest American poets for almost sixty years, James Still (1906-2001) was the voice of Appalachia." — McCormick (SC) Messenger

"If you are not impressed — if you are new to Still and you're not astonished — then possibly literature isn't your strong suit after all." — Oxford American

"Shines with his homespun humanity and eastern Kentucky roots. The 123 poems offer a wisdom, humor, and language that Still so fluidly delivers." — Troublesome Creek Times

"The work of a man accomplished in gentleness, humorousness, compassion, and clarity." — Wendell Berry

"This book is a clear candidate for the most outstanding single book of poetry ever to emerge from the Appalachian region." — Appalachian Heritage

"The volume clearly provides us with a valuable perspective on the man, his works, and his world." — Appalachian Heritage

"This volume provides a carefully edited, beautifully presented retrospective of his life and poetry, one which will appeal to general readers and will provide material for students and scholars, memories for friends and admirers, and meaningful echoes for all residents of Appalachia." — Appalachian Journal

"Still demonstrates equal ability to write with precision, beauty, and technique, and perhaps, with more consistency, which is what makes this collection quite remarkable." — Appalachian Life Magazine

"He gave voice to the people of eastern Kentucky." — Appalachian Quarterly

"With its unabashed lyricism, Still's work chronicles his transcendence among the mountaineers, their culture, struggles, and land." — Bloomsbury Review

"The power of his work is expressed in the images and the sounds of Appalachian folk speech. Still's book recalls readers to the rich texture of sounds that constitute the English language in America." — Book

"The best poetry lingers in your soul like the tone after the final chime of a great bell. James Still, who adopted Kentucky as his home early in the 1930s and became its first poet laureate, left us with enduring notes in the collection edited by Ted Olson...." — Louisville Courier-Journal

From the Publisher