{"id":91831,"date":"2026-04-28T06:00:31","date_gmt":"2026-04-28T10:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thelaurelofasheville.com\/updatestage\/?p=91831"},"modified":"2026-04-26T18:58:22","modified_gmt":"2026-04-26T22:58:22","slug":"book-feature-charactery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thelaurelofasheville.com\/updatestage\/arts\/book-feature-charactery\/","title":{"rendered":"Book Feature:<\/strong> Charactery<\/em>"},"content":{"rendered":"

Benjamin Pryor, Author<\/p>\n

While Benjamin Pryor\u2019s debut book of poetry, Charactery<\/em>, embraces Greek concepts, archetypes and fables, the poems are rooted in the poet\u2019s native Haywood County and Western North Carolina. \u201cThe book assembles archetypes that are formed as a person relies increasingly on spiritual solutions through the years, enduring the vagaries and hardships of existence,\u201d Pryor says. As he conceived the book, he meditated upon the concepts soma, psyche<\/em> and pneuma<\/em> (the tripartite body, soul and spirit).<\/p>\n

\"\"\u201cThe poems are fables of things that happened, imagine-engines if you will, their microcosms no less real in the present,\u201d he says. \u201cWe all tend to embellish or distort the imagery we collect into tales or extraordinary fictions that help us make sense of the world. Our language evokes myths that are fermented and distilled, refined and sharpened as we age. Memory is a spring to which we all return.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pryor envisions poetic imagination as a lens. \u201cWhen a poem is effectively focused,\u201d he says, \u201ca reader has an emotional reaction: numinous awe, horror, beauty or a kaleidoscope of other feelings\u2014above all, I hope my audience is delightfully surprised.\u201d<\/p>\n

A visual artist as well, Pryor drew from his series of Spirit-Language<\/em> paintings for the book\u2019s cover and other original artwork is included throughout the volume.<\/p>\n

Poetry plays with language, and as he writes Pryor challenges himself with various forms and techniques that complement his ideas. \u201cI also keep my ear open for misshapen or oddly ordered language, supernatural colloquialisms and overheard rural phantasms,\u201d he says, \u201cturns of phrase that fascinate me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Charactery, February 2026, poetry, hardcover, $23, by Benjamin Pryor, and published by Dogwood Glyph, Chapel Hill, NC. Learn more and order books at BenjaminPryor.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While Benjamin Pryor\u2019s debut book of poetry, Charactery, embraces Greek concepts, archetypes and fables, the poems are rooted in the poet\u2019s native Haywood County and Western North Carolina.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":91833,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47,110],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-91831","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts","category-literature"],"yoast_head":"\nBook Feature: Charactery - The Laurel of Asheville<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"While Benjamin Pryor\u2019s debut book of poetry, Charactery, embraces Greek concepts, archetypes and fables, the poems are rooted in the poet\u2019s native Haywood County and Western North Carolina.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/thelaurelofasheville.com\/updatestage\/arts\/book-feature-charactery\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Book Feature: Charactery - 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