Member-only story

Free Verse: Sarah Dooley, the Poet of the Human Condition

Adrien Blair

·8.3k Followers· Follow

Published in Free Verse Sarah Dooley

4 min read

348 View Claps

20 Respond

Save

Listen

Sarah Dooley is a poet who writes free verse poetry. Her work explores the human condition, often focusing on themes of love, loss, and longing. She has been praised for her use of language and imagery, and her ability to capture the complexities of human emotion.

Dooley was born in New York City in 1969. She grew up in a working-class family and attended public schools. She began writing poetry in high school, and her work was first published in literary magazines while she was still a teenager.

Free Verse

by Sarah Dooley

4.3 out of 5

Language	:	English
File size	:	2149 KB
Text-to-Speech	:	Enabled
Enhanced typesetting	:	Enabled
Word Wise	:	Enabled
Print length	:	341 pages
Screen Reader	:	Supported

Dooley's first book of poetry, Oneiric, was published in 1998. The book was critically acclaimed, and it established Dooley as one of the most promising poets of her generation. She has since published four more books: Ghosts of the Ordinary (2002),The Palace of Memory (2007),Moon over the Village (2012),and The Broken World (2017).

Dooley's work has been widely translated, and she has been the recipient of numerous awards, including the Academy of American Poets' Walt Whitman Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award. She has also been a visiting writer at several universities, including the University of Iowa, the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of Arizona.

Dooley's poetry is characterized by its use of free verse, which allows her to explore her themes in a more flexible and fluid way. She often uses long lines and stanzas, which gives her work a sense of space and expansiveness. She also uses a variety of literary devices, including metaphor, simile, and personification, to create vivid and memorable images.

Dooley's poetry has been praised for its honesty, its beauty, and its ability to capture the complexities of the human condition. She is a poet who writes about the things that matter most in our lives, and she does so with a rare combination of insight and compassion.

Here is a sample of Dooley's poetry:

from Oneiric

I am the one who wanders in the night,
Seeking the light that will never come.
I am the one who dreams of a world that is not,
A world where love is not a lie.

I am the one who yearns for a love that will never be,
A love that will make my heart whole again. I am the one who waits for a day that will never come,
A day when I will be free from this pain.

Dooley's poetry is a testament to the human spirit. It is a poetry that speaks to our hopes and dreams, our fears and our sorrows. It is a poetry that reminds us that we are all connected, and that we are all capable of love and compassion.

Free Verse

by Sarah Dooley

4.3 out of 5