That Self-Forgetful Perfectly Useless Concentration

That Self-Forgetful Perfectly Useless Concentration combines essay, memoir, and literary criticism into a unified work. Shapiro draws on his experience as both poet and teacher to explore two central concerns: the role of literary and social conventions in shaping identity on and off the page, and how suffering both demands and resists self-expression. The book includes affectionate portraits of Shapiro's early teachers, reflections on the deaths of his brother and sister, and examinations of poems that helped him through difficult periods. By weaving storytelling and literary analysis together, Shapiro demonstrates how art and life inform each other, embodying in his prose the qualities he admires in the poetry he discusses. The work addresses readers interested in poetry, literature students and scholars, teachers, and those concerned with how literary arts shape personal and public understanding.