Its neon flashes: You are not alone.'-Alison Powell, Colorado Review A Harp in the Stars helps the reader make sense of things. 'Whether a product of the limbic system of the brain, where emotions and memories are processed, or of a conscious response to formal constraints, the lyric essay is highly attuned and deeply suited to making sense of things.

I highly recommend A Harp in the Stars edited by Randon Billings Noble for those interested in writing and reading lyric essays.'-Alexa Josaphouitch, Hippocampus Magazine- ( 12:00:00 AM) 'The contributions represent a range of experiences and each essay brings a different perception of the form of a lyric essay.

'This anthology is a treasure chest of daring ways to take one's voice to the page.'-Celia Jeffries, Brevity- ( 12:00:00 AM) And because lyric essays can be so difficult to pin down, each contributor has supplemented their work with a short meditation on this boundary-breaking form. The collection also includes a section of craft essays-lyric essays about lyric essays. In A Harp in the Stars, Randon Billings Noble has collected lyric essays written in four different forms-flash, segmented, braided, and hermit crab-from a range of diverse writers. The whole of a lyric essay adds up to more than the sum of its parts.

But despite all this looseness, the lyric essay still has responsibilities-to try to reveal something, to play with ideas, or to show a shift in thinking, however subtle. About the Book Randon Billings Noble has collected a range of lyric essays in a variety of forms that showcase the essay's openness to experimentation, reliance on authentic voice, and potential to explore complex subject matter.īook Synopsis What is a lyric essay? An essay that has a lyrical style? An essay that plays with form in a way that resembles poetry more than prose? Both of these? Or something else entirely? The works in this anthology show lyric essays rely more on intuition than exposition, use image more than narration, and question more than answer.

The Star and the Stellae by C.A. Nole