Auden defined poetry as memorable speech, an ideal abandoned by contemporary poetry, which adheres to a nihilistic poetics of indeterminacy. Odyssey and Other Poems challenges the prevailing trend and, instead, seeks to achieve Auden's ideal by offering a poetry that has something to say and that imprints that something upon the memory. Thus, Gabriel's are modern poems that also reflect the ancient Bardic tradition. They are not just to be read but also spoken.
Gabriel's poems cover a wide range of subjects and themes, from the ancient to the modern, the public to the deeply personal. Thus, the reader will find poems about the Fall of Troy, about a boyhood growing up in Philadelphia's Little Italy, and more than a few love poems. And their tones are richly varied, from the lyrical and humorous to the ironic and tragic. Gabriel's poems honor the great modernist poets he admires: Dickinson, Robinson, Yeats, Rilke, Pound, Eliot, Cavafy, Hart Crane, and Auden.
Odyssey and Other Poems is groundbreaking in its refusal to bow to contemporary poetic norms and editorial expectations. Thereby, it makes its own unique mark on the world of contemporary poetry.
About the Author: Joseph Gabriel was born Joseph Gabrieli in 1926, the son of Joseph Gabrieli Sr. and Almarinda Rossi Gabrieli. Shortly after his birth, the family dropped the terminal "i" in their surname.
Gabriel grew up in South Philadelphia, where he attended public schools. After graduation from South Philly High, in January 1944, he enlisted in the US Army and served in Europe through the end of World War II.
Gabriel's college experience includes the US Army University at Biarritz in France; Villanova University, from which he graduated first in his class; and graduate studies in English at the University of Pennsylvania
A professor of English for more than thirty-five years, Gabriel was married to Eleanor Greiner Gabriel, with whom he has two sons, Kevin and Terence.
