The Life and Poetry of Ted Kooser by Mary K. Stillwell (review)

Mary K. Stillwell’s book about Ted Kooser blends biography and literary criticism, as the “Life and Poetry” of her title expresses. One of the risks of such a project is to commit what New Critics termed the “intentional fallacy,” that is, to interpret a poem through the lens of the poet’s personal life, beliefs, and intentions rather than through the poem’s form itself. The poem, according to this reasoning, exists as a thing unto itself and produces meaning independent of the poet’s intentions (this is why T. S. Eliot said that the poet was the last person who should be consulted as to the meaning of his or her poem).

Poets have long known (since before the New Critical era) that art does indeed wield mysteriously autonomous power, and a poet (including Kooser) would be the first to admit that a poem often exceeds and even pushes back against his or her intentions. Language directs the author as much as the author directs language. That being said, poems do not exist in a vacuum; they grow out of a particular poet’s particular life. This is why a work such as Stillwell’s is so valuable; while her book is more biography than literary criticism, she carefully considers Kooser’s poetry in the context of his life events without falling into the intentional fallacy.

Her approach requires finesse, so that instead of presenting Kooser’s poetry as merely autobiographical or confessional, Stillwell builds up the biographical and historical context surrounding each of Kooser’s books of poetry and then offers close readings of some of the poems from each book. That way we experience Kooser’s life as the seedbed of his poetry, but we experience his poems as extending beyond his biography. In other words, his life is a place to start but never a place to end when it comes to appreciating the significance of individual poems.

If Kooser’s readers want to better understand the poet behind the poetry, they will find in Stillwell a meticulous guide. She provides many details surrounding Kooser’s upbringing in Iowa, his education in Nebraska (including the significant influence of his mentor Karl Shapiro), his career in insurance, his family life, his bout with cancer, and his many recognitions, including the Pulitzer Prize and his term as poet laureate. Stillwell’s exhaustive research is never overwhelming; rather, she offers the details of Kooser’s biography most often in a way that bears directly on his poetic output. She also enriches our understanding of Kooser as a poet of Nebraska and the Midwest whose finely crafted poems draw our attention in plainspoken language to the history, small towns, and common people of the Great Plains. Working far outside the dominant literary establishment—both geographically and in terms of current fads—Kooser modestly yet powerfully turns us toward the mystery, heartache, and beauty at the heart of ordinary life. Stillwell’s excellent study helps us to understand how and why he does this.