Stephen Dobyns: Metaphysical Counterpoint (July 2005)

Drawing on the musical idea of counterpoint, in which two melodies exist at the same time, Stephen Dobyns suggests that departures from prescribed forms create a kind of metaphysical counterpoint between an ideal and an actual world. Looking at examples by authors as diverse as Flaubert, Yuri Trifinov, Flannery O’Conner, T.S. Eliot, Zbigniew Herbert and Jane Kenyon, Dobyns suggests that these writers provide perspective on this counterpoint through strategic release of specific sensual details.