Download or read book The Still Performance written by James McCorkle and published by University of Virginia Press. This book was released on 1989 with total page 282 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Still Performance examines the poetry of five postmodern American poets: Elizabeth Bishop, John Ashberry, Adrienne Rich, W.S. Merwin, and Charles Wright. McCorkle devotes a chapter to each one of these five poets and provides an extensive overview of their poetics. The author concludes that postmodern poetry, and these poets in particular, are engaged in various but overlapping reappraisals of modernism. More importantly, he asserts the necessity of critical inquiry bound to the persistent act of self-examination.