Mary Szybist: Poetic Argument – Strategic Concessions (July 2011)

Mary Szybist considers one common rhetorical tool poets use to construct their arguments: the concession. To concede something in a poem is a move toward vulnerability, and it is a risk, Szybist argues, which can have enormous pay-off. Incorporating examples from Marianne Moore, Linda Gregg, David Lehman, Harryette Mullen, Sappho, and Shakespeare, Szybist examines ways in which poets have successfully used concessions to reach, persuade, and move their readers.