Poems Books

Once, maybe twice, in a lifetime is such a soul as Marge Piercy found. I was inching through the Poetry section of a local bookstore, head tilted to read all the titles, when I paused and rubbed out a cramp in my neck. I stood before a book taller than those on either side. I scanned the cover- plain, yet appealing- opened to a random page, and began reading. After the third poem, a powerful piece centered around rape, I decided to buy it. A few quarters jingled in an otherwise empty pocket. Fine, if I were only paying the sales tax! I wasn't able to return for three months. It was gone. Now I find that it is out of stock. No tears are shed, but the sadness remains. Piercy is one of the finest poets of the 20th century. I'll be looking for future works, and keep larger sums of cash(or credit) in my wallet.

I love Marge Piercy's poems and this book is the best collection I know. Her clear thinking, uncompromising feminism, her brassy humor, and her hopeful insight have been a delight that I return to again and again

I had never read Marge Piercy until I found a poem of hers in an anthology and then rushed out to find whatever I could find written by her. That is substantial. I love this book. It contains a wide range of emotions and subjects, all written in a style that makes the poem easy to identify with, while containing multiple layers that make it new every time you read it. Highly recommended.

I truly love this book. It includes a fine sampling of Ms. Piercy's work. There are love poems, feminist poems, poems about animals and vegetables and living at the Cape. I bought the book about 15 years ago and I continue to read these poems. Each time I do I get something new. A must-have for anyone who loves poetry!

a glimpse into 'claude's life' leaves one reeling at the genius of edward t. george's creative faculties and wanting more!

a glimpse into 'claude's life' leaves one reeling at the genius of edward t. george's creative faculties and wanting more!

This book, "Claude's Life" exudes a style and form that makes you wish the book would never end.

You enter the world of "Claude's Life" and become consumed by its simplicity and generous laughter.

While it does delve into a life of a slacker, Claude shines through with a magic and humility.

I hope you enjoy this masterpiece by Edward George as much as I did...

It is clear that Edward T. George provides us with a very descriptive and original text in Claude's Life. This is a very modern piece that includes humor. Hopefully we will hear more from this author in the near future.

Daisy Zamora's poetry transcends language. She hones in on the most beautiful details from everyday life, such as her aging mother's fragile and small body or the second life she leads through her sister's blood, and makes the reader feel them deeply and immediately. This is a fine collection of her work, well selected and translated by Margaret and Elinor Randall.

To be a woman in revolutionary Nicaragua meant to take an active role in reshaping a country. Daisy Zamora came out of that experience as a poet who found her own voice in the context of extraordinary popular struggle. CLEAN SLATE: NEW & SELECTED POEMS is a collection that embodies a spirit of personal and political liberation. This collection includes works written between the years 1968 and 1993.

"Through her introspective early work, as well as through previously uncollected recent poems, we see the poet at her lyrical best." --Publishers Weekly

"..its real value is that those who read only English can through this bilingual edition appreciate Nicaraguan poetry and the writings of one of the greatest women exponents of the recent life and times of its people." --World Literature Today

"Zamora [was] shaped by revolution and gender, but [her] voice is true and universal, transcending political boundaries and sounding clear notes of sanity in times of madness. Highly accessible for general readers and indispensable for Latin American and women's studies collections." --MultiCultural Review

"Clean Slate: New and Selected Poems," by Daisy Zamora, is a fine volume of poetry by this Nicaraguan author. The poems have been translated into English by the mother/daughter team of Elinor and Margaret Randall. The poems are presented in a bilingual format, with the Spanish originals and English versions on facing pages.

Many of Zamora's poems are about feminist issues and/or the Nicaraguan revolution. Her work is graced my moments of both hope and paradox. Many poems recall the lives of various women: a female guerrilla ("Commander Two"), an oppressed wife ("Loyal Housewife"), a nurse enraged at United States action in Nicaragua ("Emilia, the Nurse"), and more. There is even a poem about the women of Greco-Roman mythology ("Alter Ego").

One of the collection's most distinctive pieces is "Radio Sandino," a long poem which evokes scenes from Nicaragua's civil war. Zamora frequently evokes or pays tribute to other poets: Gabriela Mistral, Sylvia Plath, Ruben Dario, etc. Overall, an impressive collection by a strong voice in Latin American literature.

Her poetry truly touches the heart. I think every woman can relate to some aspect of her poetry.

Contains the complete texts of Millions of Strange Shadows, The Venetian Vespers, and The Hard Hours (for which he won the Pulitzer prize). Hechts poems are formal and savage. You'd be hard pressed to find another poet who can write with such grace and ferocity. From jealous love to the holocaust, Hecht approaches every topic. One of America's greatest, and, unfortunately, lesser known poets.

To read more reviews check out Void Magazine's website.

if i had to describe Anthony Hecht in one word, it would be regal. there is no poet who looks more dignified or acts with more dignity. and his poetry is full of grace, dignity, and a quiet power. it is no wonder that hecht is as respected as he is. the poems in this collection are ones to be read slowly, over time, in order to fully digest what makes hecht such a magnificant poet.

Anthony Hecht's poems are such carefully crafted masterpieces, unfolding beautifully, quietly creeping into the heart. For those who recognize and appreciate the flow of language, the meter of words and syllables. Read "A Letter" and "Sestina d'Inverno." True works of art.

Anthony Hecht is Moses coming down from Mount Parnassus with these Collected Earlier Poems as his Ten Commandments on the craft of ARS POETICA. He is perfectly at ease with all the elements of style and leads the reader easily into his world of observed treasures- Venetian Vespers - Cape Cod Lullaby - and for a change of pace, Third Avenue in Sunlight. An absolute master of his craft.

Whether Audre Lorde is communicating about being Afro-American, a woman, a mother, a lesbian, or a survivor of cancer, she never pulls any punches. She definitely is an unsung leader. She accomplished quite a lot in her 58 years. Despite being the poet in resident of New York state, she is little heard of. And that's too bad. Her voice is strong and clear against oppression. May my voice, in my books such as "Forever Retro Blues" be as clear and as strong.

Collecting the work of the incredibly accessible and graceful Lorde, this book gives you not only all of her work in one fell swoop, but one of the best overviews of style and voice that can be found in one poet.

A must-have for poets and an incredible teaching resource.

This book of poetry should be required for life. It is one of the most inspirationational books ever. Audre Lorde's work will live forever through this work and I highly recommend it.

In my opinion, Audre Lorde is one of the best poets of our time. Her words create vibrant images in the mind, as well as indelibly printing their echoes on the heart. Whether harsh and dark, or light and singing, her verse is incomparable. This book, a collection of her works, can be nothing less than brilliant simply for being exactly what it is. I highly recommend it for anyone who likes poetry -- and even some who don't. Lorde can change your view of the genre if anyone can.

What a pleasure now to have the complete poems of Odysseus Elytis, the Greek winner of the 1979 Nobel Prize in Literature, thoughtfully and sensitively translated by the American poet Jeffrey Carson and the Greek musician Nikos Sarris. Elytis was born on Crete in 1911. His family was from Lesbos, the island of another great poet, Sappho, and Elytis often vacationed there. Carson and Sarris both live on Paros, and it is no doubt their familiarity with the nuances of Aegean sun and sea, and their love for that harsh clarity, that gives them insights into Elytis' poetry. The erotic and the sea are themes that Elytis pursues throughout his long life. (He died in 1996.) Eros is love, sensual love, for the kore, the young woman who appears in his poems; she is a muse, and she also embodies the truth that resides within, and beyond, the familiar things of the world-in particular, the archipelago, the sun-drenched world of the Aegean, of Greece. Any translation of poetry may be suspect, but these translations are not only faithful to the Greek but harmonious with the music and the spirit of the original. Elytis encouraged and approved Carson's and Sarris' twenty-year labor of love and diligence, begun in the late `70's when Elytis happened upon some poems of Carson's. Carson, already an admirer of Elytis' poetry, had written, in Greek, a series of notes on Elytis' work, which Elytis arranged to have published. Elytis encouraged Carson and Sarris to capture the flavor, rather than the literalness, of his poetry, but they found that a literal translation in fact best captured the spirit of Elytis' verse. Carson's Introduction and Notes provide informative and concise guidance to the reader new to Elytis. This is the only complete collection of Elytis' poems in any language, including Greek. The poems' bracing adventurousness is not only quintessentially Greek but uncannily American, too, in the tradition of Whitman's sensual inclusiveness and Henry Miller's cosmic exuberance. Elytis may be a healthy elixir for our present minimalist, formalist, confessional fashions. William Borden, North Dakota Quarterly

Odysseus Elytis (1911 -1996) was a very gifted Greek poet who dedicated his life to a love of hope, beauty, freedom and Greek tradition conveyed in words and imagery that leave the reader thirsting for more. It is this insatiable thirst for droplets of human comfort during life's anguished moments and visionary beauty which together give rise to rainbows of hope that is shared by people of all cultures that has made Elytis a "poete sans frontiers", or a poet without borders.

The Collected Poems of Odysseus Elytis published in 1997 is the first collection of the entire body of poetry of Elytis in any language, including Greek. The translations by Jeffrey Carson and Nikos Sarris do justice to the original poems, providing the reader with the same captivating lyricism and surreal imagery used by Elytis to give voice to the universally human consciousness.

The poetry of Elytis gained the attention of the Swedish Academy which announced in 1979 that Odysseus Elytis had been awarded the Nobel Prize in literature "for his poetry, which, against the background of Greek tradition, depicts with sensuous strength and intellectual clear sightedness modern man's struggle for freedom and creativeness."

Another honorable recognition was bestowed upon Elytis in 1964 when the renown Greek composer Mikis Theodorakis set Elytis' epic poem The Axion Esti to music and the resulting music and lyrics became so popular that today many Greeks know at least part of the song by heart. The Axion Esti was considered to be the poet's most ambitious poem and was described by the Swedish Academy as "one of twentieth century literature's most concentrated and ritually faceted poems". This poem recounts the world of Eros, including his battle against the darkness created by misunderstanding and hatred, his victory, and the ultimate justification and praise.

Elytis possessed an historical as well as a moral awareness that became a pivotal part of his poems and served as a counterweight to his deep and abiding love of the Aegean with all of its spectacular beauty. Elytis faced the prospect of his own human mortality as well as the manifestation of tragic human evil when he served with distinction at the Albanian front during the Second World War when the Greeks defeated the Mussolini's army in the first allied forces victory against the Axis. The horrors of that military campaign, followed by his brutal experiences with the Nazi occupation of Greece, a civil war and a military dictatorship, provided a significant catalyst for this gifted poet to continue to carry the literary torch in the tradition of Greece's best poetry which identified ideal beauty with moral good and truth.

The art, literature, philosophy and religion of pre-Classical Greece also greatly influenced the lifetime work of Elytis. In many of his poems, Elytis wrote about heroism in the context of the ancient hero upon whom risks, danger and even terror are thrust by Fate, after which the hero bravely confronts the challenge and is transformed by the experience. The hero, to whom the reader can relate from his own life's experiences, is given this opportunity for growth and development through the inevitable wounds, wisdom and willfulness that result from his encounter with Fate's challenge ... wounds that will heal and sculpt scars of remembrance; wisdom that is born of reflection, generosity of spirit and adherence to life's values; and willfulness of the inner strength of our spirit. A reader of his poetry cannot help seeing himself in many of these poems that at the same time serve to inspire and throw down the gauntlet.

I will always remember Elytis as the Poet of the Aegean Sea. He was born in 1911 and began writing poetry in 1929 in the Aegean islands. He later established himself as one of the leading voices of a generation of literary giants, including his fellow Nobel Laureate George Seferis and Yannis Ritsos. Unlike Seferis who spent a lifetime struggling against melancholy, Elytis is widely appreciated by his readers because he finds hope even in tragedy. His poetry clearly reflects his relentless search for the paradise that lives deeply within all of us and his conviction that the discovery of paradise is within our capability as well as our grasp. Elytis' poems celebrate the vitality and vibrancy of the Aegean landscape, the energies of man and his soul and the spirit of nature. He uses the power of language to link myth with history and to confront good and evil. His poetry clearly reflects his love of hope, freedom and the beauty that is in all.

This first collection of all the works of the great master is a must for anyone who endeavors to explore the Modern Greek culture and discover its representation of the universal human experience. This book has become a source of constant inspiration and discovery in our home.

This translation by Jeffrey Carson is a delight for the senses. The poetry of Elytis has stimulated a great number of intellectual reviews, but there can be no true appreciation without experiencing the context of his work. These poems present a life that could be lived only in Greece. No translator who has not tasted that life would be able to capture this essence of Elytis. Carson was chosen for this task partly because of his own life in Greece: because he truly does understand.

An awesome book, but readers should be aware that the "collected" in the title is somewhat misleading. "Collected", yes, "complete", no. In August 1998 _Eros, Eros, Eros : Selected and Last Poems_ by Elytis (his real name was Odysseus Alepoudhelis, by the way) was published, containing his last poems.

This was a refreshing book of poetry which took you back in time. The author covers many decades and marks specific earth shaking events in a way many authors have not. I also enjoyed her viewpoints of younger children then her growing pains of being in love, experiencing death, as well as the coping of life. I highly recommend this to everyone. Here is a great book for children to learn from.

Here is a glimpse at what all of us go through in life. You can easily see how the writer grows not only with in herself but in her work. Here is a great book for young adults to read as well as any age group. It let's you realize that we all have growing pains and we do live through them. There are some beautifully written poems on nature that will be around for ages to come. I recommend this book highly to everyone.

This is a very unusual book of poetry. It adds thoughts of what was going on in the world in the past allowing some of us to remember how things were. The view points of many different age levels are apparent throughout the book which lets the reader feel how the various age levels react to their surroundings at the time. I would recommend this book for young adults as well as those older. They themselves will be able to reflect upon the struggles we all go through during life no matter at what age.

This is an intriging collection of poems that the author shared with us. She has brought laughter and thoughtfullness. I highly recommend this book to others!

I'm a solid atheist. I also love Herbert's intimate dialogue and often battle with his God. Stylistically, he dominates better known poets of the Metaphysical era, such as Donne. His backround as a musician comes through in all his work. He inherits the Metaphysicals' use of vivid metaphor. He looks ahead to Gerard Manley Hopkins in his fusion of music,image and conversation. "Love bade me welcome" and "Prayer" are among the jewels of poetry.

If you are religious, Herbert will be of great comfort in his deep and moving spirituality. If you are not, that spirituality is still so compelling and resonant that you will feel with and for him. He in many ways reminds me of Emily Dickinson: the poet of the quirky, gentle, wry and elegaic short poem. Do read Prayer with its lovely last line "something understood" and Love with its last line "And I replied, my Lord."

Herbert os a treasure. In my sixties, I respond to him with the same respect and warmth as in my twenties when I first discovered him.

Over the centuries, there has been a great deal of Christian poetry written by a broad range of poets, but only a tiny handful of that can stand comparison with the very best nonreligious poetry. The later poetry of John Donne, Milton, Dante, some of the early American Puritan poets, and the poems of Gerard Manley Hopkins does not quite exhaust the list, but it consumes most of it. And, of course, George Herbert stands at the head of any such list. Of all these poets, Herbert is probably my favorite as a religious poet. By that, I mean someone who is religiously satisfying while at the same time writing exquisite poetry. There is simplicity of expression in Herbert that is missing in Donne, and a personal piety that I do not find in Milton, whose poetry, while unquestionably religious in spirit, is somewhat spiritually dry. One wouldn't read Milton to inspire piety. Hopkins is brilliant, but I find myself focusing on his over alliteration.

George Herbert was one of those either fortunate or unfortunate younger sons of a landed family who was forced to enter the Church because the family title passed onto his older brother. That brother, very nearly as well known as his younger brother for his own writings, Lord Herbert of Cherbury, was the author of several books, including what could be regarded as the first history of comparative religion written in England. The religions compared were not, however, Christianity, Judaism, Islam with Buddhism and Hinduism or with so-called primitive religion, but with Greek, Roman, Jewish, and Christian religions.

This is an excellent edition of Herbert's poetry, but one should note the title carefully. Herbert, in fact, wrote a fair amount of poetry in Latin. That unfortunately, is not included either in original form or in English translation.

Herbert is ordinarily classified along with Donne, as a Metaphysical poet i.e. one who use extreme metaphor and makes connections between completely diverse matters to forward a rough and energetic argument in verse. Herbert is , as I sense it, gentler than Donne. He is a more quiet devotional poet, one with deep religious faith. There is a certain sense of his humility and great power of concentration in his devotion.His love of music plays a central role in the metaphoric structure of his work.
Among his often anthologized poems are " The Collar" " The Pulley" "To the Jews" "The Altar"

Other poets can write about the beauty of the woman that they love, but Hebert writes of the true source of beauty, the source that most deserves praise in poetry: God. Hebert's poetry is a tribute to God, for whom he gave up everything to go into ministry. A musician, Herbert writes much of his poetry in a way that is almost musical, and may have at one time been set to music. A collection of his poetry can be an incredible devotional tool for personal reflection and praise. It can also be wonderful to study in the classroom because of his brilliant use of literary devices. My favorite poem of his is The Holy Scriptures. For a taste of Hebert's beautiful tributes... "Oh book! Infinite sweetnesse! Let my heart suck ev'ry letter...."Your heart will suck every letter from Hebert's beautiful poetry.

Very old book, I think I could not find it in any bookstore (you have to look for it very intensely). Thanks for the service!!!

The Earl of Rochester lived a life worthy of Tom Jones. He was indeed a deabauched libertine, slightly less worthy of censure than the Marquis de Sade. Yet he was something that De Sade was not, a great wit. Though nowhere near the range or genius of Pope or Swift, he nevertheless compiled a great body of satirical poetry in the Juvenalian tradition. His "Satyre Against Mankind," Like Swift's Houyhnhnms chapters, present human beings in their true place in nature, despite all the panegyrics and biblical references placing us at the top of the chain. If you are lover of satire, as I am, and don't mind observations that place us amongst the lower orders rather than atop some Parnassian peak, give this volume a try.

It's only in the past deacade that we have re-discovered the fine English art of swearing, and here we have a classic wrighter to remind us how its done. Rochester's poetry is both funny and irrevirent, and his genuine hatred of mankind is tangible and heart warming. And he's not afrade of calling someone a c##t either! The perfect antidote to all that crap about love they made you read in school

The 2nd Earl of Rochester (John Wilmot) is one of our greatest love poets in the English language. He and his work have been neglected in previous times because of the debauched lifestyle he had led and what was once perceived as the obscene nature of some of his poetry. Today, these poems are recognized as some of the most beautiful erotic verse ever written. They speak of every kind of sexual love, from unrequited love to fulfilled love, from young love to the nastalgia of remembering long-ago love, from ethereal love to barnyard lust--it's all there. Many of his more racy poems have been lost down the centuries through lack of publication, censorship and other similar factors, but much of his best work survives.

I like Rochester's poems for the colorful use of language they possess, the depths of passionate sentiment they convey, and the understanding of eroticism that is so characteristic of this great poet's work[...]

David Rehak
author of "Poems From My Bleeding Heart"

The book was in excellent condition and arrived as promptly as one could expect. As of this date I really haven't had a bad experience with any of my book orders. Thanks so much.

Hardy had a life-long fascination with the paradox of memory: how people, events, and even isolated feelings can be buried by time and later resurrected in the fullness of emotional memory. His central aesthetic principle is that of `the exhumed emotion,' which one can wryly interpret as a graveyard variant of Wordsworth's "emotion recollected in tranquillity." But for Hardy, it was a mysterious capability, like his comment that "I am cut out by nature for a ghost-seer." Hardy's aesthetic of the "grotesque" frequently features past lovers as ghosts or elusive phantoms.

In "She, to Him III" he muses on the "souls of Now" who would disjoint / The mind from memory, making Life all aim, / And nothing left for Love to look upon." In this brief phrase, from the start of his career, can be found four of the major themes of his entire life and work: the present ("Now"), memory (past), Life, and Love, all in tension with one another.

The volume contains innumerable poems of unrequited love, regretted love, guilty love, repentant love, etc. etc. One of the great English poets of the 20th century. Ranks with Yeats and above Heaney.

Perfect! What more needs to be said? This collection was delicious and is a treasure for any Hardy fan. Enjoy every bite!!

Considering how depressing Hardy's novels can be, his poems are curiously uplifting, full of descriptive power and a love of rural England. Among his classics are "The Darkling Thrush", "Channel Firing" (great World War I poem), and "The Oxen" (beautiful Christmas poem about nostalgia and faith).

Like his novels, the poems illustrate Hardy's capturing of the past and his sense of something greater than us shaping our lives and our feelings. These are apparent in "Last Words to a Dumb Friend", his lament for his deceased cat. In this, the very home where the cat lived seems to resonate with the cat once he has passed to "the Dim" (i.e., beyond Death):

"And this house, which scarcely took
Impress from his little look,
By his faring to the Dim (NOTE: faring = travelling)
Grows all eloquent of him."