Poetry Books

When I went and saw "Assassins" for the first time, I honestly wasn't sure what to expect. I've been a Sondheim fan ever since I began watching "Into The Woods" at the tender age of four years old... but I don't think I was sufficiently prepared for "Assassins". And that's a good thing.
"Assassins" keeps you on your toes throughout, being able to make dramatic changes from the light-hearted to the tragic in the time it takes to bat an eye. Perhaps most striking is how you come to like and sympathize with every one of the assassins, while still knowing that they all have their dangerous streak.
Moreover, "Assassins" deals with a common subject in a very uncommon way. The overall 'theme' says "Everybody's got the right to be happy." The brilliance in this statement is not in the statement itself, but within the context of the cold-blooded murderers with it has been placed. It gives us the lesser seen perspective of life from the point of view of these historical figures who had major problems with their lives and with themselves. Rare, even in the history books.
In fact, "Assassins" has been a better history lesson for me than nearly anything else. The play is very highly based on the facts of every person's life and the details of their assassination attempts. Good for theatre buffs and history teachers alike.
Go Sondheim, go!

Well, I was not very well aquainted with Sondheim, though I had heard of him. Then I was fortunate enough to be cast as Sam Byck in a production of Assassins. I have to say, the show was an experience like I can only hope to have ever again. Weidman's writing brings to life thoroughly disturbed characters in a way the audience can relate to. It shows us the world of a psychopath- looking out from the inside. My first thought was to question whether I could do justice to the material. The incredible intensity of the scenes and the forceful emotion of the songs is nearly overwhelming. From the actor's point of view, I can say only that a sense of desparation is omnipresent, even in the comedy, and that there is the feeling of a great injustice, and perhaps an epiphany that never quite came. I encourage anyone who can to try and acquire a copy of the London production( I don't know if there are any official ones, but as any theatre enthusiast knows, there are ALWAYS bootlegs), or of the new production when it becomes available, because of the added song "Something Just Broke". This incredible piece serves as an important... I think the word is catharsis. I remember crying backstage during the first show, because it put a sharp point on the events of the previous scene, where Oswald takes his shot. The play itself also brings into focus the background of the assassins, and those lesser-known souls who tried and failed( like Byck). While it won't appeal to everyone, it is definitely worth looking into for Sondheim lovers and US History buffs. And serious performers will find the songs and text rich with meaning. I recommend this show, libretto and music, to anyone with an open mind, or a love of art.

I profess to be of a young age, and those who don't know me would probably consider my experience with musical theatre to be rather inextensive. I am, however, even at a young age, a Stephen Sondheim admirer. Yet even I, whose favorite musical is the ghastly and mind-numbing masterpiece "Sweeny Todd," was not entirely prepared for the unabashed "Assassins."

Assassins combines all the would be and have been presidential assassins of the United State's history and throws them all into a timeless world where Charles Guiteau (Garfield) can chat with Leon Czolgosz (McKinley) and Sam Byck (Nixon) at a bar while John Wilkes Booth (Lincoln) reads a copy of Variety magazine. It is more of a revue than anything, but the music (which you MUST own if you're going to buy the libretto) is so moving and so powerful it actually is able to draw sympathy for Lincoln's assassin. If the prospect of feeling pity or sympathy for Lee Harvey Oswald makes you angry, Assassins is not my recommendation.

Indeed, Sondheim and Weidman sucessfully made me feel sorry for Leon Czolgosz and Booth and Oswald and nearly all the characters in the musical. Some may think it unpatriotic; I think it presents the other side to woefully biased history lessons claiming the Assassins to be vengeful madmen searching for chaos. Assassins truly brings to light what's wrong with the American dream, and for any history buff, Sondheim fan, or just plain theater fan, Assassins is a MUST have.

All I can say about this play is that it is sheer genius. I was fortunate enough to see the Broadway revival cast act it out in Studio 54, thus can safely say that the play is just as shrewd and clever onstage as it seems in the play.

The thing that often repels people from 'Assassins' is firstly its subject matter - assassins and would-be assasins of presidents of the United States - and secondly, the way it handles its subject matter. 'Assassins' neither trivializes nor glorifies its characters: what it does is examine them, and let the audience make the decision as to what prompted them to commit the crimes they did. On stage, the play is chilling - seeing "Squeaky" Fromme carve an 'M' for 'Manson' into her forehead at the end of her number with John Hinckley 'Unworthy of Your Love' does not seem disgusting; it is entrancingly horrific. And this is not even mentioning the song 'How I Saved the President', the fast-paced narrative of Giuseppe Zangara's attempt on the life of President Franklin Roosevelt: it rises to an eerie feverish pitch and ends with a jolt - literally. The singing ceases only when Zangara has been electrocuted.

I realize that the above description may seem to portray 'Assassins' as a gruesome horror-trip into history - but really, that is not what it is at all. The rises and falls of emotions in the songs (apparent in the book as well as in the play) are shrewdly placed so that the viewer can't quite bring themself to feel sorry for the assassin, exactly, more fascinated. And this is what 'Assassins' is - a fascinating look at some of the most forbidden American taboo in our country's history. The play jumps on its subject matter with surprising gusto - it does not jump delicately from point to point. It attacks its topics and does not let the audience leave unshaken.

I feel as though I should probably mention that reading the book and seeing the play live are two different things. They are both thought-provoking and interesting looks at the various assassins - but a certain emotional element is lost in the text. Not that the book is bland and dry - far from it. However, seeing Charles Guiteau dance his way up to gallows feverishly reciting his poem 'I Am Going to the Lordy' is slightly more morbid than reading it.

Highly recommended.

This review is by Crosley.

I had become very well acquainted with the score to Assassins before I read the script, and I think John Weidman may have done the impossible: he may have overshadowed Sondheim's score with his book. Don't get me wrong, the music and lyrics are phenomenal, but the book is what really matters in this one.

Assassins is an examination of the dark side of the American Dream and those it has affected, namely, those who have tried to kill presidents. Most of the assassins actually have good reasons for their efforts. The play has gained a lot of bad publicity for "glorifying assassinating the president," "being unpatriotic" and "trivializing terrible events." The play does none of these on any level. I said that some assassins had good reasons. I did not say that their actions were the right thing to do, because they weren't. However, the play rehumanizes people that society has dismissed as one dimensional madmen. Hence, the Balladeer. The Balladeer represents the traditional, one sided view of the assassins, and is used expertly. The play keeps in mind the fact that the assassins are dangerous people who should be condemned, but it also keeps in mind that they are indeed people. The scene between Csolgosz and Emma Goldman is wonderfully poignant, and allows us to see a side of Csolgosz rejected by the world, and it's things like that that make the characters much more real.

By making the characters real and at least vaguely sympathetic, the play succeeds in such a way that could never be done with demonized characters. Since the assassins are made human and just like us, Americans trying to live The Dream, they are infinetly more terrifying and frightening, because now we can identify with them, and see the clear and present danger in America.

They all have different motives, but there is one thing that ties them all together. They thought The Dream was not a goal, but something they were entitled to, and when they didn't get it, they wanted people to listen. Hence, drastic measures. Booth's anger with Lincoln is very real, and the crimes he lists against Lincoln are all true to some degree. Csolgoszs' anger at the working man's plight is completely justified, considering his working conditions and wages. Few of them have motives that we can't understand (except Moore and Guiteau), and again, they are that much worse because of it.

This is not to say that the play is not funny. Au Contraire, Assassins is one of the funnier plays I've read, mostly because it preys upon the assassins' character flaws and quirks and exploits them for some great comedy. They're even funnier if you know about the personalities of each for whatever reason. For example, regarding the scene where Guiteau hits on Moore, it was known that Guiteau hit on anything with two legs (usually unsuccessfully), and Moore, who had been married five times (each husband was more successful than the last), may have been roped in by Guiteau's line of "How would you like to marry the ambassador to France?" It's really quite good. The scenes between Moore and Fromme are priceless, as are Byck's rants into his tape recorder, hamburger in hand. "I am Unworthy of you Love" is a gorgeous song, and in context (being sung to Jody Foster and Charles Manson by John Hinckley and Squeaky Fromme, respectively), it's uproarious. Thank God for Weidman's wit, because this is a show that definetly needs comic relief.

The interesting idea that the play presents is that the assassins are just as American as anyone else, because America is "The land where any kid can grow up to be president," and likewise, "Any kid can grow up to be his killer." Comedy, tragedy, laughs, tears, a message, great music, Assassins has it all. The scene near the end with Lee Harvey Oswald is one of the most powerful scenes I've ever read. In fact, it was recorded on the soundtrack, because it's just that important. Delaying Oswald's appearance for so long was a great move, because the audience, after being emotionally assaulted by the other 8 assassins, is finally pushed over the edge with an event that most of them were alive for and remember. The triumphant chords after Oswald's shot give me shivers every time I hear them.

Assassins is a phenomenal play that unfortunately is rarely produced. I recommend reading the script and enjoying the excellent score to people looking for something a little different (hey, that's Sondheim for you), a little funny, and a little scary. The show will live on because of its relevance, and it's a wonderful addition to the American Musical Theater.

Stacey Tolbert does more than bare her soul in this collection of poetry. She bares the souls of her readers...sometimes coaxing us out of our skins, sometimes shocking our eyes open to the truth of ourselves and the world around us. Direct without preaching, this book talks to your heart without any pretension. Thank you, Ms. Tolbert, for putting it on paper.

Bravo! Bravo!

Baring my soul is beautifully painted with poetic words that warms the soul. The honesty and openess puts this artform in the category of innovative alternative expression. In a comercial driven world it is so nice to experience something real. Stacey is definately a leader in the new Neo Soul Movement.

Many authors mistakenly distance themselves from their audience. Stacey Tolbert's Baring My Soul is pleasantly inviting. Readers are allowed, during an entertaining recount, to explore her past experiences (pleasant and melancholic) and private thoughts. Baring My Soul is beautifully written, hats off to the writer.

I bought the book because I've had the privilege of hearing her read her poetry live. You should check out her tidbits of wisdom and slices of strength. We are blessed that she has shared herself with us. Buy the book. And, try to book the poet.

For a little book, Stacey Tolbert's "Baring My Soul" packs a mighty, lyrical and poignant punch. You can tell right off the bat that Stacey Tolbert, aka The Brown Suga Poet, is a spoken word poet because her words literally leap off the page in a musical way. The line breaks, rhymes, unrhymes, rhythms all move in a fluid way that makes you want to drink what Tolbert has to say and believe me, this sister has a lot to say and doesn't believe in holding back.

In this compact collection, Tolbert touches upon racism, sexism, the political arena, self-respect, self-love, strong women, and many other potent topics that lets you know that behind the pretty words, Tolbert has a strong mind.

Though I loved every poem in the book, some of my favorites include, The "be" Anthology Poems, Hair, and Tolbert's epistolary poems, especially, Dear Nubian Teenage Girl.

To all readers who love the written word and an artist's ability to put words together to create beautiful and powerful statements, you owe it to yourself to pick up Baring My Soul by Stacey Tolbert because she does just that...bares her soul, in all its poetic grace.

Shon Bacon

I am currently taking an Old English class. This semester we are translating Beowulf. This book is very helpful because on the opposite side of the Old English page is the translation into modern English. This is most helpful because some of the grammar when translating is tricky. This book would be interesting if you were reading Beowulf, but wanted to see how it was originally written. The translation by Chickering is usually spot on, although he does use poetic license and adds a few of his own words to make it more clear to the reader. I would have given this 5 stars, but there is no glossary in the back and for anyone who has ever tried translating Old English, a glossary is a must!

I am happy to report that buying this book has been one of those rare occasions when I have enjoyed the pleasant surprise of actually receiving MORE for my money than what I had been expecting.

I bought this book because of its containing the full text of Beowulf plus the running modern English translation on facing pages. In addition to this, I expected perhaps the usual brief introduction which such works are frequently accompanied by.

But instead, the book turned out to be about twice as thick as what I had anticipated. Yes, the first 50 pages or so are indeed the type of introduction and pronunciation guide I had expected, followed by the 200 pages containing the actual text and translation. But above and beyond this there is also an additional almost 200 pages to the book, and it is this portion which has made me doubly happy with my purchase.

Included in the second half of the book is a very helpful chart of the royal genealogies dealt with in the work. This is then followed by literally page after page of absolutely wonderful and extensive background material and analysis which deal with everything from the history of the manuscript and theories as to its authorship and dating, to broader background material on Anglo-Saxon society, its way of life and traditions. I found hours of fascinating and rewarding reading here which I never expected. It's almost like getting an extra book!

And as if this was not enough, to top it all off they have concluded the book with a section which gives full glosses for all the words in the 8 most key sections of the text. -- No need to spend hours frantically flipping in the dictionary, it's all here done for you!

Being a newcomer to the field of Old English, this book has been everything I have been looking for. And considering the modest price of this volume, I feel I have gotten a real bargain and am happy to give this book my highest recommendation to all.

I had to read this book for school and let me tell you...I adored it. It brings to life picturesque characters and mysterious beings that are truly fantastic. Reading this book I felt a true excitement in my heart, which I don't get with many other books. I suggest that people read this book, because its not only for the older generation its for us younger generation as well.

Brittanie Chisum

I fell in love with Beowulf when I read Seamus Heany's facing page translation. I also fell in love with Anglo-Saxon Old English and decided to teach it to myself. I then bought John Porter's word for word facing page translation, which is good for learning Anglo-Saxon, but not for enjoying Beowulf as a rip-roaring adventure. I wanted to read another translation, to see how someone else would handle it, and the variety of translations available is amazing. Prose translations I hated. Even a modern poem turned into prose sounds wrong. Translations that ignor the alliteration and poem structure also bother me. I liked Howell Chickering's version. It's close to original feel of the poem. But the best thing about this book is Chickering's Commentary in the back. All the extra explanations were very helpful in understanding the poem. Questions that I had thought of are brought up and discussed. There are not always answers, but a thorough discussions of all the various theories. I thoroughly recommend this version.

If you read the Penguin edition (or any other modern translation) and wondered what all the fuss was about, this is your answer in a form accessible to the motivated reader. This monk-produced epic in an age when Christ challenged the devil at every turn and monsters and witchcraft were accepted as fact was crafted in language that rolls like a viking boat in stormy seas and cracks like lightning splintering a glacier. Here is a nuanced tale of life in a remote Germanic outpost haunted by a trinity of monsters and blessed by an able if flawed and mortal savior, a princeling knight errent compiling a couple of resume stuffers on his way to kinghood and then capping a great career with a final, defining epic deed.

The reader is provided with an intralinear translation, old english verse on one page, modern verse translation on the other. Vocabulary, pronunciation guides, and annotations are all provided. The sounds of this poetry are raw and powerful in a way that can only be weakly imitated in modern English, rich with wry, textured prosody. I found this book based on an offhand mention by a professor when I was in college, a two year search of university and second-hand bookstores without result, followed up over ten years later with an Amazon alert entry that finally bore fruit many years after that. A luminous accomplishment.

A poetry cd of both live and studio performance by American poet Billy Collins. This is great, witty, ironic and clever. Hearing the poet himself read his verse adds to the enjoyment of his poems. I love 'forgetfulness'. His poems strike a chord with modern life. A must for fans and newcomers to his verse.

We bought this collection of Billy Collins' poems shortly after being introduced to him by friends who lent us the CD of Billy Collins' live performance at Peter Norton Hall (with the intro by Bill Murray). This collection has a few of the same poems as the other, but not enough duplication to make this an unwise choice. I enjoy listening to this collection, but get a little more enjoyment from the lively and responsive atmosphere that the audience gives the uninterrrupted live performance. Still, I haven't heard any other of his readings, so this is a very small sample to be judging from. In the end, I don't think you can go wrong with either CD.

I love Billy Collin's poetry for its charm, wit, and profound statements. He's a fine poet, but....on audio disc he is dull and anything but funny when hearing his voice.

"I suppose I might be different from previous poet laureates by kind of emphasizing the playful or even screwball aspects of poetry." ~Billy Collins

Collins was reappointed to the post of U.S. Poet Laureate in the summer of 2002. He travels throughout the country for readings, lectures and is well loved by his audiences.

Listening to Billy Collins read his poems gave me a new appreciation for his genius. His poetry increases my capacity for viewing the world on a new artistic level. While listening, I had moments of nostalgia as images danced across my mind.

In this CD, you will find many of your favorite poems from many of his published works. They include:

1. Another reason I don't keep a gun in the house - A story of a dog barking. He humorously mixes images of a barking dog solo and Beethoven.
2. Shoveling snow with the Buddha - Winter work ends with warm drinks.
3. Marginalia - An especially enjoyable poem for anyone who loves to find scribblings in books.
4. Afternoon with Irish Cows - Completely vibrant images. You can truly see the images poem.

5. Walking across the Atlantic - An imaginative journey while walking on the water. He imagines what the fish must think about the bottoms of his feet appearing, disappearing.
6. Intro - An introduction that explains the title of this CD.
7. Consolation - Written to consol himself after canceling a trip to Europe.
8. Forgetfulness - If you are over 30, this makes complete sense. An intensely comical poem that will be appreciated by anyone trying to remember the name of a book or name of the author.

9. Workshop - Newbies enjoy entertaining Billy Collins with their artistic expression.
10. Morning - Feet on a cold floor and espresso while the typewriter awaits.
11. Driving myself to a poetry reading - An analysis of his feelings as represented
in how he places himself at various points - the car hood and the backseat.
12. Wolf - A wolf reads a book of fairy tales. This is perhaps one of my favorite Billy Collins poems. I love the description of the fur bristling and how he turns each page with his nose.

13. Purity - Explains how he loves to write and drink tea. His explanation of
how he writes romantic poetry is almost an interesting insight into male sexuality.
14. The Art of Drowning - Will you really see your life flash before your eyes?
15. Nostalgia - "Remember the 1340s?" I love this poem because it is a humorous visual journey back in time.
16. Candle Hat - A poem about a Goya painting.

17. Sweetalk - Art lovers will enjoy this love poem, especially the twist at the end.
18. Instructions to the Portrait Artist - Interesting insight into the poets' love of the intellectual life.
19. Pin-up - Decadent descriptions of murky garages and mechanics.
20. Flames - Smoky the Bear with his fur gleaming in the sun.

21. Saturday Morning - Casual observations and lazy day moments.
22. The Afterlife - Secrets from the afterlife and how you go to the place you always thought you'd go. Fun idea.
23. Man in Space - Male/Female relationships.
24. Aristotle - Thoughts about a beginning, middle and an end.

25. Wires of the Night - Especially beautiful recollection about death.
26. History of Weather - Flower ruffling breezes and heat shimmering on sand. Images of clouds, rain on battlefields and snow flurries of Victorian London.
27. Best Cigarette - Remembering his days as a smoker as a lover remembers
their true love.
28. Invention of the Saxophone - Mentions a historical character from the 13th century.

29. Child Development - Fish work up irregular verbs and children work on name calling.
30. On Reading in the Morning Paper - Dreams
31.The First Dream - Wind ghosts around the house as he leans against the door of sleep.
32. Japan - Reading a favorite Haiku.

33. Thesaurus - Lover's in myths and a congregating of word relatives. I love this one because I love words and Billy Collins has an especially creative way of exploring word meanings.
34. Nightclub - My husband read this to me once and I thought it was hilarious.

Billy Collins' wry wit and his eloquent voice contribute a comical resonance. His comic timing is impeccable and I finally understood some of the humor in his poem "Consolation" about "not" touring Italy. He gives a bit of background, which changes the entire poem. By the end of this reading, he has left the audience deliriously giddy with laughter.

I love the twists at the end of his poems that instantly captures profound emotional moments. There is a casual elegance in his poems. He invites you to journey with him through the poems, although at times Collins throws in a highly imaginative sentence or an entire poem that throws you for an intellectual loop. Billy Collins vocabulary is stunning all on its own. The way he blends the words into images and colors is more than impressive.

If you are in the mood for intellectual beauty, this CD will give you a deep appreciation for laid back and artistic observations.

If you are already a Billy Collin's fan, Pittsburgh Press has issued special hardcover limited editions of three of Billy Collins' books: Questions about Angels, The Art of Drowning, and Picnic, Lightning.

~The Rebecca Review

Dedicated to Eric who found my Billy Collins book reviews and thought I'd enjoy this wonderful recording. Thank you! This was a beautiful gift.

Billy Collins is spectacular, for even more than his work as a poet. Billy has done a lot to bring poetry back to schools and kids. Poetry is a lost pleasure for Americans. So many review here go into each poem on the disc so I won't trod down that road again. But I will say that if you want to see the wonderful style of this man, check out "the best cigarette" and "Child development". I really love "child development". So if you love poetry this is for you, if you are new to poetry, this is really for you, if you need to be reassured of the human spirit you must buy this.

Victoria Chang's first book of poetry, 'Circle', is unusual for a poetry award-winning book in that it can stand alone, quite apart from its already sung praises. In fact, it demands it.

Her Edward Hopper 'Studies' have a wonderful feeling of osmosis, evoking often charged scenes in Hopper's notoriously solitary paintings.

'An Evening at the Chinese Opera', 'Morning Porridge', 'At Lake Michigan' (which is like a Haiku that breaks its own rules) and 'There is Something about the East Coast' are other poems of particular note.

The unique notion of the 'circle', derived from Emerson and which forms the galvanising path of the book, does pervade the collection yet the collection would in no way suffer if this were missed by the reader. In a non-pejorative sense, this may be a collection where the sum is not necessarily greater than its exquisite individual parts.

Victoria Chang, Circle (Crab Orchard Review, 2005)

Every once in a while, I stumble upon a book like Circle (I say "stumble" because at this point I've no idea where I read about it originally), and all the time I spend reading poetry that ranges from the mediocre to the mind-splittingly awful is worth it. For Circle is one of those books where the poems leap off the page and come at you with a boning knife, gazing hungrily at the innards lying beneath that flap of belly fat you've been trying so hard to work off these past few years. While this is not happy stuff, for the most part, Chang manages to retain a twisted sense of humor about life, the universe, and everything:

After returning from Arkansas, I've never been the same.
Little here, little there, it's always great

to go à la carte-- it gives leverage and leave, it lends option to pull out
that front tooth or start saying y'all.

I begin to acknowledge feet with hair on the big toes, my eyes
get greener and green.

Periodically, there's a 300-point inspection and I'm checked,
re-checked, and checked again,

but what if the checker is the one missing a tooth? What if
I discover this

when I'm more than halfway? Do I turn back or keep going away
from home--

two small dots plucking broken guitars?
("Majority Rules")

Oh, yes, folks. I am unabashed in my love for this book, which will most likely make my top ten reads of the year. You want it. **** ½

What I love about Ms. Chang's work is her directness and her intensity. Though she said in an interview in June of this year that she would like to be more daring, I find her sense of political and social outrage infuses even the simplest of domestic situations, a fully committed kind of daring, as in this description of a rice dish the speaker prepares in "The Dragon Boat Festival" interwoven with a revelation about murdered baby girls: " I snip the string, unwrap the leaves, the rice pulses with steam, black dates ache, the wind smells of wet grass, sugar, fractured flesh." This is a wonderful book by an emerging poet who will become one of our nation's finest.

Reading Victoria Chang's poetry is like walking through woods in the fog, and every so often a branch smacks you in the head.

Circle is a collection of poetry by published poet and editor of "Asian American Poetry: The Next Generation" Victoria Chang. Poems encompass both the distant past, particularly laws, history, and customs of ancient China, and the muddled modern day. The female perspective, with its share of unique pains and mistreatments past and present, shines through in this interconnected anthology written with frankness and passion. Meditation at Petoskey: An old woman on the beach hands me a stone. / I tell her of the ruining landscape, tortoise backs / of stone, algae colonies, like puzzles on rock, / the lighthouse column with its cracked putty / and rotating eye. But she says, nothing has changed, / we have always been this way - a thousand young larks / mount the sudden breeze.

I have an inexplicable attraction to the Modern Library hardbacks. Inevitably, if a Modern Library hardback version of some book that I want exists, I'll end up buying it. I really don't know why. Anyway, case and point: Edgar Allan Poe.

The benefits of this edition are evident:

a) All the short stories--yes, even the uproariously funny ones that most paperbacks leave out, as well as Poe's bizarre "hoaxes" and inexplicably contrived "articles" that don't really pass very well as stories

b) All the poems--including poetry written in childhood as well as posthumously discovered

c) ...and a couple of essays--most importantly, "The Rationale of Verse."


However, the book still lacks most of Poe's criticism and other essays. I suggest you purchase Dover's little paperback _Edgar Allan Poe: Literary Theory and Criticism_ (kind of a "Greatest Hits" collection of Poe's critical work which, in reality, spans over 1500 pages) to complete your library. There you will find the great classic "The Philosophy of Composition" accompanied by dozens of ingenius (and at times ascerbic) reviews of books you may know from elsewhere. It's an invaluable resource.


Moreover, the same Modern Library problems afflict this edition--thus, herein lies another reason I cannot explain why I must keep on buying and reading Modern Library hardbacks:

A) There is no textual or intertextual editing, nor are there any critical footnotes. Moreover, there is no critical introduction by a Poe scholar. This bytes.

B) There is no margin room. There never is in a Modern Library hardback. This gets really annoying when you're reading "The Fall of the House of Usher," and you're trying to tie together pieces of evidence (all part of Poe's perfect conceived "totality" of content) to form a of cohesive, critical interpretation of the story with about a centimeter of margin room in which to write! Your handwriting will quickly show itself illegible, and your hand mercilessly cramped.

C) Modern Library hardbacks are customarily printed on cheap (although smooth and aesthetically pleasing) paper. Thus, when you write in your book, the ink is very likely to bleed over onto the converse page. Also quite annoying.


However, however, however--I must not forget that the goal of Modern Library is not to print the best book possible, but the best _affordable_ book possible. And at $18.00, this 1000 page hardback is hard to beat.

So, if you have the money, do actually buy _the best_ edition: the Library of America edition. ISBN 0940450186. It's over 1400 pages, is printed on paper that will last forever, and is edited by a prominent Poe scholar--but it's almost $40.00!


But, more importantly for those of us on budgets: This edition is in direct competition with both the DoubleDay and Castle editions of Poe's collected stories and poems. Under no circumstances would I recommend the other two editions due to their typesettings. I know that may sound ridiculous, but a humane typesetting has a lot to do with the pleasure and utility that a book can and will proffer its reader. The print on the other two editions is inordinately overloaded (too much packed on each page) and serves to burden the eyes. For sooth, the Modern Library version is packed too--but it's a huge improvement on the other two editions.

If you've got $40, get the Library of America edition. If you've only got $20, get this one.

I've always had a liking for Edgar Allan Poe, with his tales of horror, mystery and suspense, done in the atmospheric prose of a master writer. Since I live close enough, I've even made some trips to his gravesite, a place that is always surrounded by a sense of sadness.

Poe was a tormented genius who died young, under mysterious circumstances, and at the time of his death he wasn't deservingly popular. Certainly his work was not cute romances for the masses -- he explored the darkness of the human heart, love, satire, and the earliest whodunnit stories. And "Complete Stories and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe" brings together all of his poetry and writings in one book.

Poe's fiction writings include short stories and novellas, which tend to be rather weird -- a treasure-hunt and a golden insect, a ship caught in a whirlpool, a hypnotized man talks about the universe, and stories of despair, madness, and occasionally beauty. There is also his trilogy of Monsieur C. Auguste Dupin stories, which were the first to feature a brilliant detective solving an impossible crime.

Most people know about "The Raven" (which even has the Baltimore Ravens named after it) but Poe actually wrote a lot of poetry, most of which readers never heard of. Sometimes dark, or whimsical, or even both. "By a route obscure and lonely/Haunted by ill angels only/Where an Eidolon, named NIGHT/On a black throne reigns upright..."

And, of course, the horror. This is what Poe is best known for, including such well-known stories as "The Fall Of The House Of Usher." But there are also lesser-known gems -- tales of a plague invading a party, being buried alive, a portrait that siphoned the life out of its subject, and a nightly visit to an Italian crypt leading to madness.

Don't read "Complete Stories and Poems" all at once. It's too intense. It's better to soak it in a little at a time, so that you can get a better feel for the different kinds of writing that Poe did, and how he excelled at pretty much everything he put down on paper. Most great writers can't boast of that much.

Poe's writing is what makes even his least story or poem come alive -- he brought a gothic, misty vibrancy to his stories, and could make his quiet dialogue seem utterly chilling (" "I have no name in the regions which I inhabit. I was mortal, but am fiend..."). It's not hard to see why he was an influence on authors such as Fyodor Dostoevsky, Oscar Wilde, Arthur Conan Doyle and Franz Kafka.

"Complete Stories and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe" is a must-have for anyone with an appreciation for great literature and beautiful, dark writing.

Poe is one of the world's finest writers and this collection of stories is what he's all about. This book contains the best of his tales, with many others for you to explore on your own. It has his poems and short stores. Its contents is very close to being unabridged except, for it missing a few poems and stories that aren't very good anyway.

Poe's tales contain all the excitement of a novel, in around 10 pages. I recommend this collection because it offers hours of enjoyment. The only thing you might need is a large vocabulary because he tends to have an advanced word choice. Get this book and have fun!

'Horror,' as it is broadly understood, is defined by two essential elements: the active presence of decay, some 'abnormal' manifestation of nature, or a combination of both.

One hundred and fifty-seven years after his early death, Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849), who made horror the dominant theme of his creative work, remains the American master of the weird tale. Poe's work has had enormous worldwide influence: French poet Charles Baudelaire was an early champion and translator, Poe's 'William Wilson' (1839) haunts the pages of Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890), and several stories look presciently ahead to work of Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung.

The Collected Tales and Poems of Edgar Allen Poe (1992), which also includes humorous pieces ('The Devil in the Belfry' is a hilarious tribute to the father of American literature, Washington Irving), detective fiction (Irving's 1838 story-cycle 'The Money-Diggers' stirs fluidly beneath 'The Gold Bug'), and early examples of what would come to be known as science fiction, brings together most of the author's important work.

Two general narrator (or protagonist/character) types emerge. The first is meticulously rational, calm, and 'objective'--like Dupin, the amateur sleuth who coolly solves the mystery of 'The Murders in the Rue Morgue.' The second, best represented by Roderick Usher in 'The Fall of the House of Usher,' is psychically haunted, deeply subjective, acutely sensitive in every pore, and barely able to repress the hysteria--at best--simmering just beneath the surface of his consciousness.

Both general types are isolated and obsessive in their own way--the first perhaps imagines he has found salvation by holding the world at a kind of hard cerebral remove, while the second surrenders his will in increments and sinks obliquely into emotional, spiritual, psychic, and physical fragmentation. The second type (found in 'The Fall of the House of Usher,' 'Berenice,' 'The Black Cat,' 'The Pit and the Pendulum,' and 'William Wilson,' among others) dominates and defines Poe's work.

Poe occasionally offers readers a combination of both types, as in 'The Imp of the Perverse,' in which the narrator, after a lengthy, meditative, and 'objective' discourse on the self-destructive aspects of human nature, briefly tells his own story: compelled to commit a pointless murder, he then finds himself equally compelled to publicly confess it.

Fatalism and perdition are key characteristics of the author's work: death may await everyone, but, in Poe, death impatiently reaches forward into men's lives, sickening, exhausting, and corrupting them, thus hastening fragile humanity's end. Poe's protagonists are once healthy, now dire, everymen surrounded on every side by hostile, malevolent, and destructive forces which dominate every plateau, division, and category of existence that man has methodically--and rather naively--mapped out. Human instinct proves to be 'red in tooth and claw'; the senses betray; the mind collapses; the borders and boundaries of civilization are violently breached; the natural world reveals a harsh, predatory, and incomprehensible face; physical laws prove unreliable; loving relationships sicken and fester; all agents of stability prove false and slip away.

Most of Poe's work suggests that there is no escape for anyone (--"dead to the World, to Heaven, and to Hope!"), and, as several of the tales underscore, including 'The Fall of the House of Usher' and 'Ms. Found in a Bottle,' even the cessation of life may bring no solace for some. However, reprieves are possible: the narrator barbarically tortured by the Spanish Inquisition is freed by the arriving French army at the conclusion of 'The Pit and the Pendulum,' the sailor who experiences 'A Descent Into the Maelstrom' survives to tell of his ordeal, and the vengeful dwarves in 'Hop Frog' apparently escape at that story's conclusion.

Remarkably, because of the skill with which he illustrates his view of man's utter lack of genuine choice or ability for self-determination, Poe manages to make most of his characters likeably human, despite their illnesses, eccentricities, and perversions. Though the tales team with toxic bloodlines, incestuous relationships, premature burials, rioting lunatics, marauding plagues, 'tormenting' doppelgangers, parasitic spirits of the dead, animated corpses, "ghoul-haunted woodlands," and a fair variety of additional supernatural tableaus, Poe remains is a remarkably rational, balanced, and economic storyteller, since the ultimate horror lies not in the external threat, but in the narrator's realization that what he is experiencing is the genuine nature of life itself.

Poe's tales suggest that, if all of mankind lives within a perpetually collapsing, cannibalizing universe, the most one can hope for is that, in the present, it is collapsing on someone else.

Poe is one of the best horror writers ever to have lived. I have read all of his works. Some of his best stories are The Fall of the House of Usher, The Masque of Red Death, The Black Cat, The Cask of Amontaiado, The Pit and the Pendelum, and The Tell-Tale Heart. His great poems include-The Raven and The Bells. Poe is a fantastic author, and his creepy tales of the dark side of life should be read over and over.

On their own, the pictures are nice. I thought they detracted from the text, which I have read before in a different edition (and gave away!).

If you can understand the text without letting the pictures have any influence, great. I think this poem (?) is all the wisdom anyone needs to get through life.

I found the photos to take away from the words. Also parts of the poem were placed in bold face and made them stand out in the wrong way; it simplified Ehrmann's ideas too much. I was very disappointed in how it changed the over all feel. I would think these words are better left alone without other artists visual interpretation attached. Just my thoughts.

I gave eight of these books away for Christmas this year. I love the book because proceeds go to the Daniel Pearl Foundation, not to mention the nice black and white photography and inspiring philosophy. This book is a bit of sunshine on demand.

This is a wonderful book for any age. The Desiderata, an inspirational poem, was written long ago. This book illustrates the words using simple, yet striking, photographs. I have bought this book for teachers, students, and as gifts for graduates. I always keep a copy in my collection. Words we can all live by.

One of my favorite poems, a comforting and refreshing perspective on life's big picture. It purports to have been discovered in a church in the seventeenth century, but in fact it was written by a man named Max Ehrmann in the first third of this century. I have kept a copy around since elementary school (ever since I learned that Gene Roddenberry, the creator of Star Trek, kept one in his office), and now keep one in my office at home and one at work.

I AM A GREAT LOVER OF VICTORIAN-STYLE, FORMAL, PERFECTLY-RHYMED AND MUSICAL VERSE BY THE ROMANTICS, SUCH AS KEATS, GEORGE GORDON,LORD BYRON, CHARLES SWINBURNE, P. B. SHELLEY AND E. A. POE. IT IS EXTREMELY RARE NOW, IN AMERICA AT LEAST, TO FIND A POET WHO NOT ONLY COMPARES TO THESE GREAT POETIC GIANTS, BUT WHO, IN SOME CASES, ACTUALLY SURPASSES THEM IN HIS ABILITY TO SUSTAIN ATMOSPHERE, RHYTM, TENSION AND PERFECTION OF END AND INTERNAL RHYME. MR. KEVIN NICHOLAS ROBERTS HAS ACCOMPLISHED ALL OF THESE THINGS. I HAVE GIVEN COPIES OF BOTH HIS BOOKS, FATAL WOMEN & QUEST FOR THE BELOVED, TO ALL THE POETRY LOVERS I KNOW, AND AS A DOCTORAL CANDIDATE IN LITERATURE:POETRY, I KNOW QUITE A FEW. WITHOUT FAIL, HE HAS PLEASED AND AMAZED THEM ALL! THE ONLY COMPLAINTS I HAVE HEARD IS THAT THE BOOK IS TOO BRIEF--IT CONTAINS ONLY 21 POEMS (SOME VERY LONG, OTHERS SONNNETS, SHORT RONDELS AND THE LIKE, AVERAING ABOUT 3 PAGES PER POEM. THOUGH MY TWO FAVORITE POEMS, "OPHELIA" AND "ALLAYNE" ARE BOTH OVER 10 PAGES IN LENGTH, ACHIEVING WHAT POE ONCE SAID WAS IMPOSSIBLE: TO SUSTAIN PERFECTION AND ATMOSPHERIC TENSION FOR MORE THAN 40 STANZAS. ROBERTS DOES THIS AND MUCHMORE IN "ALLAYNE."

DUE TO SPACE LIMIATATIONS, I WOULD LIKE TO CONCKUDE BY SIMPLY SAYING THAT THIS IS THE BEST POETRY COLLECTION I HAVE READ FROM A POET WRITING AFTER 1909. IF YOU LIKE THE CONTEMPORARY, UNRHYMING, EXPERIMENTAL POETRY, YOU MAY NOT AGREE WITH MY FEELING THAT THIS WORK IS EXCEPTIONALLY MOVING AND IMPOSSIBLE TO READ ONLY ONCE. I'VE HAD THE COLLECTION FOR 2 YEARS, AND I STILL READ IT ALMOT EVERY NIGHT BEFORE BED. IT GIVES ME NEAUTIFUL, WONDERFULLY ROMANTIC DREAMS WHEREIN I AM THE HEROINE, THE POET MY DARK KNIGHT, CARRYING ME AWAY TO A FAIRYLAND BEYOND MOST CONTEMPORARY IMAGINATIONS. OH! AND HE EVEN "COMPLETED" SAMUEL T. COLERIDGE'S POEM FRAGMENT "KUBLA KHAN!" AND IT'S BRILLIANT, WRITTEN PRECISELT 200 YEARS AFTER THE ORIGINAL AND SUSTAINING EXACTLY THE ORIGINAL POEM'S LANGUAGE, MOOD AND GENIUS. GET THIS BOOK, OR GIVE IT TO SOMEONE WHO MELTS UNDER THE OTUCH OF THE ROMANTICS. YOU WILL NEVER WANT TO PART WITH IT. AND IT EVEN LOOKS BEAUTIFUL--VERY HIGH-QUALITY PRODUCTION WITH J. WTERHOUSE'S GLORIOUS "OPHELIA" PAINTING ON THE FRONT AND BACK COVERS. GET IT, READ IT, CRY AND SIGH OVER IT, AND LET IT CARRY YOU INTO DREAMLAND. I COULD LOVE THIS MAN. :)

I highly recommend this book by poet Kevin Roberts. He has an eloquent way with words. From the beginning to the end of the book I found myself transported into the poems. This book is so beautifully written. This author is a master poet!

I just got this book yesterday and I have already read it through about 1ten times. How could this poetry collection exist since 2000 and I never heard of it. I love Romantic poetry, and NOBODY TOLD ME!!!!

The reviewer on the back cover describes Kevin N. Roberts as "Easily one of the ten greatest poets of past and present centuries." He is, without doubt, exactly correct.

The book focuses on the femme fatales of history and, apparently, of the poet's own life and experience. My faves are: OPHELIA, ALLAYNE (breathless!!!), HYACINTHE, MORTICHE AND, THE INCONSTANT CLAYRE.

ALLAYNE seems like an impossible poem to write. How did he do it? Poe says it could not be done, to sustain perfection beyond 40 stanzas. But this man did, and did it better than Poe or any of his contemporaries. Unbelieveable!

If he ever comes out with another poetry collection, SOMEONE BETTER TELL ME. I WANT IT!

I got Kevin Roberts's name and book title--FATAL WOMEN--from a well-respected amazon reviewer. I tried it, and I cannot beli9eve that this man is not the biggest poet working in America and Europe today! He needs advertising.

Oh, and Kevin, if you read this: I LOVE YOU! Will you marry me?

FATAL WOMEN is like an antibiotic for the sickly and weakened body of modern English poetry! Finally we can see that the emperors of what poetry is and is supposed to be, have no clothes, they, in fact, are naked, for FATAL WOMEN has made us see! The last sixty years have seen an amazing outpouring of the most banal and insipid poetry imaginable. A small army of professors, armed with cartloads of advanced degrees in various subgenres of literature, especially the notorious MFA, have reduced poetry to a troglodytic science devoid of all feeling. This handful of folks have written reams of poetry for each other which has been widely published but read only by a very few outside of the cloistered walls of academe. So it is with the greatest brilliance that Kevin Roberts' FATAL WOMEN has arrived in the nick of time to save poetry from total irrelevance in the current age. FATAL WOMEN is full of poetry of the profoundest human feelings elucidated in the most lapidary of styles. His poetry is beautiful! Each poem is like a bright, or dark, willowy sorceress with powers supernaturally benignant or malign. Have you read the great Victorian poet Algernon Charles Swinburne? If you have had the pleasure you will discover something marvelous. Mr. Roberts seems to have, and this most incredibly, fetched the poetic baton from the late Swinburne. Reading FATAL WOMEN is the rarest of treats. The poetry of Mr. Roberts soars on beautiful wings both angelic and demonian. Here is poetry to make the reader cry with joy!

Loved this, all of it, especially the beautiful and smart poetry.

This anthology is not particularly erotic, literate, clever, amusing, or original. If you think it is, you need to read better erotica. There's a boring lecture about abstinence, a fishy story about a cat and canned tuna, a geography lesson that features a woman reciting the capitals of countries, and a simply uninspired recipe for a human strawberry shortcake. The quality of the book is poor, too; after a single reading the binding came apart. Maybe my hands got too excited from reading it? Nah!

I think that what I most enjoy about the "From Porn to Poetry" books, as well as CleanSheets.com, the magazine they originate from, is that you can say something like "sexy, classy, hot, wild, and true" and be accurate in your description. The editor's name, Susannah Indigo, represents authenticity in writing to me, and all of her projects that I've read have been a cut above ordinary erotica. The mix of material in this book ranges from the down and dirtiest stories to elegant, sexual poems, and there's nowhere else you can read that kind of pleasurable mix. The subtitle is "Clean Sheets Celebrates the Erotic Mind," and that's how it felt to me after reading the book - like my "erotic mind" had been thoroughly and joyously "celebrated," honored, turned-on, and was raring to go.

Nothing in the book resembles cheap "Penthouse" stories; stunning stories by writers like Kim Addonizio, Maggie Gray, Mike Kimera, Greg Wharton, and Susannah Indigo herself simply leave you begging for more. I can't recommend these books enough to anyone interested in erotica; I've gifted friends with them and they all agree. They wonder, in fact, where I found them, since there's nothing in big bookstores done as well as this. Thank heavens for the web and the ability for small book publishers to put this cornucopia of erotica out there for us!

I love the mixture of fiction and non-fiction and poetry in this book. All of it is sexy, interesting, fresh and new. Highly recommended, and a great gift for a love to get them talking about what they like.

This is a terrific book, it's sexy and smart and unusual. Some great stories and sexy poems, much better than many erotic books.

This was a Christmas gift from my mother when my children were small. We wore out the book and it has been taped together lovingly to read now to my grandchildren. This is one of my favorites from the book.

The Chickens

Said the first little chicken,
With a strange little squirm,
"I wish I could find
A fat little worm."

Said the next little chicken,
With an odd little shrug:
"I wish I could find
A fat little bug."

Said a third little chicken,
With a small sigh of grief,
"I wish I could find
A green little leaf!"

Said the fourth little chicken,
With a faint little moan,
"I wish I could find
A wee gravel stone."

"Now, see here!" said the mother,
From the green garden patch,
"If you want any breakfast,
Just come here and scratch!"

I was given this book when I was two by my grandmother, a librarian. I have poured over this book from the very first day it was given to me. First, looking at the pictures and having my parents read the nursery rhymes. In elementary school, I began to read it myself. By late elementary school through high school, the book had become a useful reference. I still have the one given to me by my grandmother and absolutely treasure it. I look forward to sharing my book with my soon-to-be born first child.

This collection covers everything from nursery rhymes to Shakespeare. Wonderful illustrations and a great collection of poetry, which doesn't believe that children are too young to grasp the meaning of the poems.

My favorite poem(terrifying) was the Skippery Boo, next, The Tyger (Blake). Great book for parents reading to kids and introducing poetry, at many age levels: great for that. Glad it was reissued and on the market again! And what about James the Snail reaching the end of his brick, eh?!

I was given this book on my 7th birthday and read it over the years until the covers came off. It is full of every delightful children's poem you can imagine. When young, I read the nursery rhymes and "The Moon is the North Wind's Cookie" and "The Duel".

When older, I delighted in "The Village Smithy" "The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere" and "The Children's Hour".

To this day I can quote great swatches of it. The Joan Anglund drawings are charming and capture all the excitement and inspiration of this wonderful collection. If you at all think your children will like "rhymes" give this one a try.

This book originally came out back in the 1950's and my mother used to read it to me every night since I was an infant (that was nearly four decades ago). This is the book that got me to love reading. I recently bought a number of copies for friends and family who just had children and there is only one minor change from the older editions: five poems were removed because today they would be considered quite racist. But the tone of the book and the illustrations are superb! Untermeyer (editor) did a wonderful job of collecting funny, witty, deep, and profoundly moving series of poems that will appeal to anyone. Among my favorites are: "The Owl and the Pussycat", "Winken, Blinken, and Nod", "Father William", and "Little George."

This book is a must for children. I cannot say enough about it. Just buy it and keep a few extra copies on hand to give away. You will not regret it!