Poetry Books


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Poetry Books sorted by Average customer review: high to low .

Poetry
Beyond the Great Mountains
Published in Hardcover by Chronicle Books (2005-08-25)
Author: Ed Young
List price: $17.95
New price: $2.00
Used price: $1.99
Collectible price: $17.95

Average review score:

Beyone the Great Mountians a simply wonderful childrens book.
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-05-10
This book is a great addition to any elementary classroom. It is visually beautiful and a great introduction to poetry. It can also be used in art class (I use it for poetry and art) as well as a book rich with Chinese culture.

stunning
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-04-08
There are really no words but the text itself to describe this poetry. A wonderful way to introduce children to poetic innovation and convention all at once. Took me outside myself.

A piece of art
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2006-01-18
The book is designed in such a unique way that the graduated lengths of the pages enable readers
to read the entire poem from the title page. Enchanting. Children and adults are fascinated by the
composition of pictures that form a single word (or character). When they exclaimed, "Wow! These
words are so different from English." I couldn't help but add to the beautiful words of the Author
and said, "Be open to difference, Difference helps us see beauty."

An intro of art and a new language to children
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2006-01-18
The design of the book is extremely creative and artistic. The pictorial language of Chinese, besides its beauty, is thought provoking. It makes children think with imagination and ask to learn more. When a book stimulates curiosity, it translates to search for knowledge, and results in growth. It's a wonderful thing.

poetic visions for children
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2005-10-23
Rev. Marie of Rebeccasreads highly recommends BEYOND THE GREAT MOUNTAIN as Caldecott Medal winner author & artist Ed Young offers a book that will enchant adults & children alike as it transports you on a journey of words & art, to a strange & wondrous land far, far way in both time & place.

Unique & very different fare for parents & children.

Poetry
The Black Poets
Published in School & Library Binding by Topeka Bindery (2001-10)
Author:
List price: $16.95
New price: $16.95
Collectible price: $19.99

Average review score:

The Black Experience in all its Diversity!
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-08-03
If you could only own one book of poetry by African-American poets, this should be the one. It is -- on the one hand -- a legitimate scholarly collection of poetry stemming from slaves through the 1960s,and including renowned poets such as Gwendolyn Brooks and Langston Hughes. But, it is also a barebones, emotional journey into the hearts and minds of a people who have faced the most brutal oppression and adversity ever inflicted upon a people in America -- and survived to tell the tale. But anyone looking for single-minded thinking from the black `community' will not find it here. This collection shows the rich diversity of thought, experience, and insight of African-Americans, including those that push an examination of thought among Civil Rights-minded people in the 60s beyond the traditional with such poems as "What is the Color of Lonely?" This is a book one should own. I bought the library binding edition because it was the only hardcover version available at the time, Worth the extra cash for a hardcover book that will last a lifetime!

Simply beautiful....
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2006-02-09
My father loved me enough to expose me to this book when I was younger. I didn't truly appreciate it until I got older and experienced more in life. This book has a variety of poetry. It is all beautiful. I highly recommend this book.

A poem for all your moods
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2006-03-07
I first encountered "The Black Poets" as a college student back in the 1970's. It features a wide selection of poems by many well known Black Poets. Many are humorous, such as "I sing of Shine" others romantic, others revolutionary, but all thought provoking. I couldn't find my old copy so I repurchased another recently. This book is definitely worth owning. It will bring you pleasure whenever you pick it up.

Moving book....
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2006-02-24
I remember reading this book while in middle school. And, I am a 2002 high school graduate. I found this book in the library, and its very impowering - real. The poetry resonates with Mildred D. Taylors, Roll of Thunder poem. I was fascinated by the Run n*****- run master comin get you poem. Its a good book!
Lots of old great African American written poetry.

Excellent Poetry and Historical Account
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2006-05-01
I am an author and a poet and will state that this is an excellent job by Dudley Randall. The poems in this anthology flow very well. The section on the Harlem Renaissance is very pleasing; know the struggles encountered and the determination of will to succeed, the poets during that era showed strength and courage and are well documented. The book is a history lesson in itself regarding poets of the past and present. There is a distinct contrasting of poets who are classified as folk and literary poets. The additional distinction between pre-renaissance and post-renaissance poets is also made in the book. Overall, the poems from poets in the anthology are outstanding and give a great blending of African-American History.

Poetry
The Bouquet of Roses: A Collection of Love Poems
Published in Paperback by MQOTA & Associates, Inc. (2002-02-22)
Author: Velile Notshulwana
List price: $14.95
New price: $12.11

Average review score:

A true meaning of love
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2002-05-07
This book expresses old fashioned love in contemporary poetry.Some think they are in love but have not experienced what Notshulwana articulates in verse.He's prose is brilliant, he shares with the reader his most intimate feelings about the love of his life.Congratulations, Veza, for finding what the world is searching for.. TRUE LOVE.

"Magnificent!"
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2002-04-16
"The Bouquet of Roses is an inspiring expression of a man's love and a tribute to the relationship of a man and a woman."

Barbara Lackey, Professor of Psychology
Southern California University for Professional Studies, USA.

Symbolic of Cashmere Cloth
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2002-04-13
Reference to cashmere cloth might not mean a thing to one who is not exposed to the culture of the Xhosa people in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. When a young man wants to ask his loved one's family for her hand in marriage, symbolic items are wrapped in black cashmere cloth, to be presented by the delegation to her family. The covers of this book are the embodiment of that tradition, as the pieces of poetry they contain are representative of that gift of love. I recommend it even to those averse to the subject of love, as they surely will be converted after reading this collection.

"Beautiful and Profound!"
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2002-04-10
"Someone once said that life is a song and God writes the words. This collection of love poetry has just confirmed that. These poems could have been songs, for they are beautiful and profound in every way."

"Beautiful and Profound!"
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2002-04-10
"Someone once said that life is a song and God writes the words. This collection of poetry has just confirmed that. These poems could hace been songs, for they are beautiful and profound in every way."

Nosipho Kota, Colunmist, East Cape Weekend.

Poetry
Can't Nobody Take Me Away
Published in Hardcover by 1st Books Library (2002-09-04)
Author: Kyran M. Daisy
List price: $22.95
New price: $16.00
Used price: $19.77

Average review score:

This kid's going places..
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2003-02-21
I am a librarian at a small public library with a very multicultural community base. In order to increase our poetry collection I branched out and ordered new authors. Mr. Daisy's book made it worth my while. Ever since receiving his book in early 2002, we have not been able to keep it on the shelves. People of all ages, races and backgrounds have found his poetry, "moving and inspiring", "comforting", and feel "he understands my world". This book is a wonderful addition to anyone's library, whether public or your home collection.

So Real
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2003-02-20
Kyran Daisy has captured the emotions that come hand in hand with strength, frustration, misery, rage, tenderness, desire, love, heartache, and heartbreak and shared them with his readers in a mesmerizing flow of phrases. Each new poem brought a new rush of goosebumps to my skin. I fully experienced his joy and his sorrow through his brilliant words.

I don't think there is a soul on earth who would not find their own personal truth in the experiences of Mr. Daisy. As one reads the verses, one wonders if the poet was actually right there, experiencing these emotions right beside them. There is so much wisdom in the words of this young man. He has such talent, and so, such a future in poetry!

"Can't Nobody Take Me Away"
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2003-02-19
I THANK KYRAN FOR CREATING A TRULY INSPIRATIONAL BOOK OF POETRY. IT MADE ME OPEN MY EYES TO THE EMOTIONS CAPTIVATED WITHIN EVERY STORY. THE BOOK IS BEAUTIFULLY CRAFTED AS IS THE MAN HOW WROTE IT. WITH EVERY WORD ON THE PAGE ONE COULD TELL HIS LOVE FOR POETRY. THE BOOK MAKES YOU REFLICT ON THE PURPOSE OF POETRY; TO REACH DOWN INSIDE YOUR SOUL AND LET GO OF THOSE POWERFULY FEELINGS YOU NEVER KNEW YOU HAD. I HOPE THAT KYRAN FINDS THE MOTIVATION TO WRITE ANOTHER DELIGHTFULLY, MOTIVATING BOOK.

Can't Nobody Take Me Away
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2003-02-18
I cannot give enough praise and words to express my feelings for Mr Kyran Daisy's book of poems, Can't Nobody Take Me Away.His poetry is heartwarming, sensitive, perceptive, and emotional. Mr. Daisy is a creative writer. I highly recommend his book because it is a wonderful reading experience.

Can't Nobody Take Me Away
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2003-02-18
I cannot give enough praise and words to express my feelings for Mr Kyran Daisy's book of poems, Can't Nobody Take Me Away.His poetry is heartwarming, sensitive, perceptive, and emotional. Mr. Daisy is a creative writer. I highly recommend his book because it is a wonderful reading experience.

Poetry
Carolina Ghost Woods
Published in Hardcover by Louisiana State University Press (2000-04)
Author: Judy Jordan
List price: $26.95
New price: $0.95
Used price: $0.01

Average review score:

Haunting and beautiful
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-09-30
In this slender volume, justly hailed as a wonder by several reviewers, Judy Jordan crafts the most beautiful, thought-provoking and elegiac poetry out of the less promising circumstances - poverty, alcoholism, murder and death - and gives us lines we aren't likely to forget.

I came upon this book by pure chance, and I'm happy I did. Despite her often dismal subject matter, Judy Jordan is a joy to read. Get the book now, thank me later!

Fantastic.
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2008-03-25
Judy Jordan, Carolina Ghost Woods (Louisiana State University Press, 2000)

Judy Jordan writes dense, exquisite poems that both shock and satisfy, while making you feel vaguely like taking a shower afterwards.

"...it informs the toads,
crouches them in crooked caves of alder roots,
pulses the pale skin under their slack mouths,
keeps them in the pond's tight waves clutching anything:
a pine's resinous knot, a fist of chair foam,
even a drowned and legless female."
("Long Drop to Black Water")

I loved this book; very easy to see why it won the National Book Critics' Circle Awards, though I have to admit I'm somewhat surprised that they received such heavy subject matter with such aplomb. This one's definitely a keeper. ****

Carolina Ghost Woods
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-01-22
I pulled Judy Jordan's "Carolina Ghost Woods" off my bookshelf again tonight. It's a cold and clear here in the deep south and Jordan's poetry called to me in the wind. "Carolina Ghost Woods" was first published in 1996 by Louisiana State University Press, and Jordan writes that she submitted this book for three years as a "first book" before it was awarded the Walt Whitman Award in 1999. The first poem, "Sharecropper's Grave" sets the tone:

The night is hoot owls, wind-whistled flue, babies bundled in burlap.
Breath of another child, mid-gasp.

The alliteration causes the reader to shiver in the cold and continues throughout this poem:

Small holes, secret graves,
children scattered around the iron fence.
Not even a scratched stone. . .
The night full of cries they will never make.
To read the title poem,"Carolina Ghost Woods" is to travel into the mythos of the south, to hear what the dead whisper,
When the leaves shudder to the muddy ground
and snow under the gutters puddles red,
when the bird lifts, the rabbit shivers in clumped grass
and the fox shrinks into the bramble,
when the shadow crosses the pitchfork's broken handle
and the hinges of the shed door rust,
let me believe someone is there.

Each poem in the book reveals another story from Judy Jordan's life. They are woven together to bring the reader through the death of her mother and the violence of being on the streets, homeless. Ms. Jordan joins the reader in this journey with her breath and voice and we walk the ghost woods together.

Buy the book and settle down with a fire in the fireplace and the lights dim, read "Caroline Ghost Woods" from start to finish . . . you won't regret it.

"Ghost Woods": Craft, Soul and a Dark Past
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2004-04-11
As a creative writing student at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale I was immediately fascinated with the program's newest addition. Already the school boasted the great Rodney Jones. And I began reading SIUC's newest professor/poet Judy Jordan. After several readings, I am still amazed. Whether it be the remarkable, pain-staking craft or the soul-drenching childhood and early adulthood that she narrates with such originality and heart-thrashing grief, Jordan simply takes your breath away.

This collection, unbelievably a debut, doesn't just grip the reader with it's wrenching family tragedies. The music, sounds, carefully sought words (both for sound, connotation and meaning) and an ambition leaning towards the transcendent makes for a potent statement.

Currently, I am enrolled in a poetry course with Ms. Jordan. Let this not be a bias in my review. I admit am unabashedly biased towards male poets. For whatever reason, I can see through the eyes of a Rodney Jones or a James Wright easier. However, Jordan's book truly strikes a chord with me. It doesn't beg for pity. It doesn't make the predictable turns. It endeavors for something more. In addition to pain, guilt and embarassment, it finds joy, hope and transcendence in this person's impoverished, tragic past. It bears minor resemblances to the work of her former teacher, Charles Wright, as well as carrying influences of poets she's worked around in the past: namely James Kimbrell and Donald Platt. But as their style is of their own, so is hers'. And Jordan's ability at true poetic craft, rhapsodic forms and ear for human dilemma is more than original, it is ground-breaking.

During a time when poetry's popularity is at an all-time low, fresh work from the likes of Jordan and Kimbrell are keeping the medium alive. There is something very spiritual in this movement. I only hope, that when my time comes, I can be a part of it.

Impressive Book
Helpful Votes: 3 out of 5 total.
Review Date: 2002-07-12
While it's true that Jordan's technique seems a bit thick with "borrowings" from Charles Wright, her actual material (and her treatment of it) is wildly original. This book is shocking, heart-wrenching and, at times, almost unbearably beautiful. An urgent and necessary voice.

Poetry
Chiyo-ni: Woman Haiku Master
Published in Paperback by Tuttle Publishing (1998-09-15)
Authors: Patricia Donegan and Yoshie Ishibashi
List price: $16.95
New price: $87.50
Used price: $58.00

Average review score:

Wonderfully researched and elegantly presented
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2008-04-19
If you'd given me a sheaf of Chiyo-ni's haiku before I read this book, I might have had a "so what?" moment rather than a "haiku moment." Writer Patricia Donegan and translator Yoshie Ishibashi teamed up to present us with an invaluable scholarly introduction to the life and work of the great Chiyo-ni. The 65 pages of biographical and cultural information bring Chiyo-ni and her contemporaries vividly to life, providing a context for the 100 haiku to follow. For example, Chiyo-ni was friends with prostitutes, and this was not considered unusual for a Buddhist nun; prostitutes were not shunned, for one thing, and both nuns and prostitutes had greater freedom than most of the women of Japan of that era.

The poems are presented in sections for the four seasons, each one in both phonetic and script Japanese, with an English translation, identification of the kigo (the season word), and sometimes notes on Chiyo-ni's life at the time she wrote the poem, the mood being expressed, or cultural references with which a Westerner would not usually be familiar.

The book is paperback but lovingly produced. An indispensable reference work for haiku readers and writers, and for those interested in the lives of women who managed to find personal and artistic freedom within societies that greatly restricted the lives of women.

clear water
Helpful Votes: 6 out of 8 total.
Review Date: 2001-06-19
Simple and delicious. A treasure. My favorite poem, "clear water / no front / no back" No more needs to be said.

Buy it now...
Helpful Votes: 7 out of 8 total.
Review Date: 2003-10-04
There is no logic at all to what goes out of print...this book should be out there forever, it is so rare and remarkable. Buy it now, though, and add Far Beyond the Field, a survey of 20 historical and modern Japanese women haiku poets, including Chiyo-ni. If you write haiku or just love to read it, you'll find a unique inspiration in these two wonderful collections.

As soft as plum blossom fragrance
Helpful Votes: 7 out of 8 total.
Review Date: 2001-10-19
I really enjoyed this beautifully written biography of Chiyo-Ni, as well as the the banquet of her exquisite haiku. In addition, there are many examples of drawings/paintings done of her by her contemporaries. I would highly recommend this book, and have re-read the haiku many times. Chiyo-Ni is truly a master of her art and it is so fortunate that her works have survived for our enjoyment.

A Luminous Biography
Helpful Votes: 8 out of 9 total.
Review Date: 2001-12-25
This biography of woman haiku master Chiyo-ni is interwoven
with beautiful translations of her haiku as well as intelligent background material on the form itself. A must-have.

Poetry
Cinnamon Peeler Selected Poems (Picador Books)
Published in Paperback by Pan Books Ltd (1989-08-25)
Author: Michael Ondaatje
List price:
Used price: $5.99

Average review score:

One of Ondaatje's Best Poems
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2005-09-08
I had the opportunity to hear Michael Ondaatje read his poem 'The Concessions' from this book at the Blyth Festival season launch and this poem is very beautiful. Not only is it a connection that is like no other with the area that it was written for. Ondaatje has really gotten into the sprit of the area as he pin points local figures 'the mystic from Millbank' we all knew who these people were that he was pin pointing which was very lovely. I was very pleased to have had the opportunity to have hear that poem that I went out and bought this book right away because of that poem. I recommed that you buy this book there are many other lovely poems but that one 'The Concessions' will forever stand out in my mind.

A Beautiful Collection
Helpful Votes: 11 out of 16 total.
Review Date: 2000-07-07
The wonderful collection of poems that comprise The Cinnamon Peeler were written by Michael Ondaatje during a twenty-year period. They are works of deep intimacy and dazzling beauty.

Not being a poet myself, I enjoy reading Ondaatje's gorgeous poetry to my novelist wife.

More than love poems, these works contain wonderful twists and turns that are both painful and funny. Ondaatje has obviously turned to both Rousseau and Wallace Stevens for inspiration, but he also contributes his own sense of the novel and his awareness of social strata.

This is a charming book, with a muted sense of humor. With The Cinnamon Peeler, Ondaatje takes us deep inside his own mind and heart. It is trip worth making.

A wonderful, readable mixture of poems
Helpful Votes: 14 out of 15 total.
Review Date: 1999-12-18
Michael Ondaatje knows how to mix humor, beauty, sadness, and acute observation together to make lovely works of art. This collection contains a great variety of poetry, from simple and touching observations about his children, to deeply imagined distant moments of wonder. My favorite is "Pure Memory/Chris Dewdney" which actually made me cry twice for two different reasons when I first read it. I will say no more here. "Elimination Dance" is also a fun one to read out loud. "The Cinnamon Peeler" itself is a fantastic love poem. There is so much good stuff in this.

To understand Michael Ondaatje, read his poetry!
Helpful Votes: 17 out of 20 total.
Review Date: 2000-05-28
Michael Ondaatje knows how to write poetry. Primarily, he is a poet. Secondly a novelist. This collection contains a great variety of poems about day to day life, love, marriage, deep observations about children, humour, history and many more.

My favourite poem is ""To a Sad Daughter" which has a universal appeal. Once, I read this poem to my wife just replacing the poet's daughter's infatuation: ice hockey players with our daughter's hobby. My wife remarked: "Great poem. So you write good poetry too!"

I also like other poems including "The Cinnamon Peeler", "A House Divided", "Women Like You", "Billboards" and "Postcard From Piccadilly Street".

Michael Ondaatje shares his great intimate moments with us including love, his recollection of places and relationships with us. If you want to understand Ondaatje's prose, one must begging with his poetry. For anyone `The Cinnamon Peeler' is an entry into a dark and deep labyrinth painted with human experience. When you come out of it, you'll be a different person.

This book is a one I read over and over again when I'm both sad and happy!

his train of thought is so complex yet so simple...
Helpful Votes: 8 out of 11 total.
Review Date: 1999-07-09
I don't have much to say, but I must state my immense admiration for micheal ondaatje and his thought...his way of thinking reminds me of my own, like when he says in one of his poems with no name, "how we moved from thin ceramic to such destruction". I feel such romance and love from almost every single poem, even rat jelly! He doesn't restrict himself to using a certain amount of lines in his stanzas, and there's no rhyming. That makes his poetry more "true" and honest, like all poems should be. His works read rather like a novel and he could probably write a novel for each poem he's written, but they'd all be thrown in together eventually into one book, since they're all in a way connected. I love reading his poetry over and over again, the effect never wears out. I can't remember the name of my favourite poem from this book, but it's simply about him and his wife kicking each other in bed for the covers and the space, and how he says that she got pregnant, he's sure, just so she could get the space...it's such a simple subject that no one else would think of writing about...no other poets that I've read have succeded in being able to pour out their thoughts in a way that I would actually be interested to read them. I applaud you, Micheal Ondaatje...all my love.

Poetry
Collected Poems
Published in Paperback by Farrar, Straus and Giroux (1995-10-01)
Author: James Schuyler
List price: $32.00
New price: $21.09
Used price: $14.98

Average review score:

Just wait
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2007-01-16
Surprisingly neglected, especially in the academy, Schuyler will soon be recognized as one of the most gifted poets of his generation. The deluge of doctoral dissertations cannot be far off; I encourage readers to beat the rush.

ONE OF THE BEST EVER
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 5 total.
Review Date: 2003-06-22
Except for his last poems, JS is one of the best poets ever and deserves more attention. If you're unfamiliar with his work, look at the cover and it'll tell you almost everything you need to know before you bask in the light.

Almost Perfect!
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2000-07-08
James Schuyler's COLLECTED POEMS is a great volume of poetry. Ranging from aspects of daily life (such as plants, walks in the countryside, friends, urban life, etc.) to contemplation of death, life, one's interiority, and God, Schuyler's subjects are compelling and relevant. What I especially like is his ability to take a mundane, everyday object or concept (like a view from a building) and give it a new, intensely personal perspective. This is his major gift. One aspect that I didn't like about some of his poems (and this is true for all poets) is his tendency to be obscure at times (though only a small portion of his poems are abstruse) and his long, rambling prose poems, like "Hymn to Life." "The Morning of the Poem," though, is a fantastic and imaginative piece of literature, broad in its scope and revealing of Schuyler in its tone and subjects. Overall, this volume of poetry unites the works of a superb poet, who valued the artist's perspective and his or her obligation to record a view of the world different than that of the average person. This volume will, I fervently hope, remain in the continuum of literature and in discussions of it for many years to come.

A great poet
Helpful Votes: 3 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 2000-12-26
This collection should establish Schuyler as one of the great poets of his generation. I particularly admire his tautness--precise names and descriptions, inventive phrases--as well as his flexibility--a wide-ranging eye and ear and a free-flowing memory. Throughout these poems there lurks a clear intention to inform, to connect, to synthesize. I look forward to returning to this book many times for refreshment and illumination.

Wreckage and Romanticism
Helpful Votes: 4 out of 4 total.
Review Date: 2000-04-29
These sparkling poems mimic in their movements the springtime light that's always raining down around this poet, despite whatever woes he might have had. Read the long "Morning of the Poem" and tell me it isn't one of the most moving poems in the history of poetry.

Poetry
Collected Poems
Published in Hardcover by Amereon Ltd (1983-06)
Author: A. E. Housman
List price: $19.95

Average review score:

excellence in writing
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-06-28
Housman's poetry is very gloomy; considering that all the pictures I saw of him in my high school English IV class looked as if he has a stick shoved up his __. I recommend "To an Athlete Dying Young" number 19 in his collection called A Shropshire Lad. Still strangely relevant since it's first writing way back in 1896, it's just a really good example of really vivid poetry done by a master.

Necessary Addition to Any Poet Lover's Collection
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2008-01-20
Absolutely necessary reading for any poetry lover. If by some terrible mistake you have so far missed Housman, you should make up for it immediately. Don't waste your time reading reviews, just get the book asap!

nastalgic lyrics and ballads
Helpful Votes: 3 out of 7 total.
Review Date: 2004-03-25
I remember first discovering A. E. Housman in school when I read "A Shropshire Lad" and was rather impressed.

My favorite of his poems is "To An Athlete Dying Young". It moved me because it has a special connection with me, since now that my athletic days are over and I'm no longer a part of any team, I understand and can identify with the athlete who is once so glorious and yet his glory can be so short-lived.

David Rehak
author of "Poems From My Bleeding Heart"

Lyrical Companion
Helpful Votes: 8 out of 9 total.
Review Date: 2003-12-06
I don't know what I'd do without this book. I stumbled on Housman more or less by accident in an anthology and just fell in love -- so much emotion so perfectly crystallized in such lovely little lyrics, beautiful regardless of what connection you make to it. I can't recommend this highly enough; somehow, despite the melancholy, Housman's verse retains a power to comfort and assure in even the most dire of situations. That, I suppose, is why it was written years ago "for those unhappy fellows, unborn and unbegot, for them to read when they're in trouble and I am not."

So set, before its echoes fade...
Helpful Votes: 9 out of 13 total.
Review Date: 2005-03-21
A.E., Housman's superb poem, "To an Athlete Dying Young", cannot help but bring to mind all the young men who perished in aerial combat. You knew some. I knew some. We are now moving off stage and we cannot help but hope and pray that others will carry on the task of remembrance. I drive by Putterham Circle in South Brookline, Massachusetts, frequently and I note that the wooden sign dedicating the traffic circle to my old friend Staff Sgt. Frank Ryan is in need of replacement.

What brings this to mind is a letter from a Fred Farnsworth (email address: FredieF@aol.com) of Los Alamos, New Mexico. He is interested in the life of his late cousin, Lt. Everett Farnsworth, of Stillwater, Oklahoma. His cousin and Jimmy Stewart were close pals and used to double date the English girls who lived near the air field. I should note here that I have yet to hear one note of criticism of Jimmy either as an Airplane Commander, actor or as a human being.

Our correspondent says Jimmy told his cousin that he would honor him in a movie Stewart would make when he got back to the States. He gave Everett the name George Bailey in the movie we all have seen probably more than once. Its title was "It's a Wonderful Life".

Everett did not live to see the movie in which Stewart kept his promise. He was killed on a bombing mission when his badly shot- up Fortress went down in a Swiss lake. The name of the lake was Greifensee. Everett and one other were killed in the crash. Four other crewmen who had been ordered to bail out did so and survived. The plane was a B17G -serial no. 384BG/5545BS and it went down April 4, 1944. Anyone with information concerning the plane and its crew can forward it to "Vapor Trails".

As long as I am still here to tell the tale let me home you in a bit on my pal Frank Ryan. He was a rich kid from a very patriotic family. He had a U.S. Marine brother who fought on Tarawa if my memory serves. Frankie went to "Cranwell", a lahdeedah Jesuit boarding school in the Berkshires. I went to Boston College High, at that time a Dickensian Jebbie prep school in Boston's tough South End. It is still close to my heart after all these years. We both wound up among the very few Radio Operator Gunners who could read Latin. (I can say this without fear of correction because all my Latin teachers are dead.)

We both joined the Army Air Corp in Brookline but didn't see each other again until a couple of years later when we luckily met on a train back to Brookline. We were beginning the furloughs you get just before going overseas and presumably into combat. Frankie went to the Eighth Air Force whereas I wound up in the Tenth. I sent him a V-Mail from the 7th Bomb Groups airbase at Pandeveswar, Bengal soon after I got there. By this time the European air war was winding down. I wrote Frankie that he was one lucky guy because his war was just about finished whereas fliers in the CBI had a long way to go.

I sent the same note to Nate Douglas of Georgia whom I had met my first day of Basic Training and had been to CTD, Sioux Falls Radio School, and Gunnery School at Yuma. We said goodbye in Savannah where he was assigned to train on B17s and I was across town at Chatham Field training on Liberators.

A few weeks later I was sitting in front of a sweltering straw-roofed basha in Bengal, India, when a mail orderly came by and handed me the self-same V-Mails I had sent Ryan and Douglas. The orderly muttered "Sorry". Both V-Mails were stamp "Killed in Action."

Smart lad(s) to slip betimes away from fields where glory does not fade...
John Brennan, editor


Poetry
The Collected Poems of Octavio Paz, 1957-1987
Published in Hardcover by New Directions (1987-11)
Authors: Octavio Paz and Eliot Weinberger
List price: $37.50
Used price: $18.00
Collectible price: $50.00

Average review score:

Collected Poems of Octavio Paz
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2006-03-10
This is an excellent edition of the collected poems of Octavio Paz, with English translations facing the Spanish originals. I purchased this as a gift for my Spanish teacher and she was delighted! My favorites are his poems written when he served as a Mexican diplomat in India and Japan. His sensitive mind absorbed the nuances of place and religion, which are recreated for us in the poems. His efforts at haiku en espagnol are enlightening, pun intended.

excellent poetry
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2006-03-01
I bought this book after reading an excerpt of one of Paz's poems at a camp. I didn't know what poem it was from, so I bought the book and scoured it until I found the poem. It was Brotherhood. The poetry is beautiful and moving. It is the type of poetry you can read and enjoy no matter if you understand what it is saying, the writing is that beautiful

Sing the Voice Fantastico
Helpful Votes: 21 out of 25 total.
Review Date: 2001-08-15
Octavio Paz has since passed through this world leaving behind a beautiful web of words with the tapestry of things seen and unseen. Paz does an ambidextrous job of mixing in elements of surrealism with the bone of natural objects and that which is very real. His, and the translator Eliot Weinberger ... along with the help of other poet translators to include Bishop, Levertov, Tomlinson--all of their words come alive with beautiful language. The translation seems true to the intent.

What is essential about this book is that each poem comes with the bilingual translation in English and accompanied by the original works in Spanish. Two years of high school Spanish, as well as two years in college, has rendered me with a woefully inadequate ineptitude of all words and understanding of that language. But I don't think that the translation can ever capture the sound, the alliteration, the true tongue/la lingua and fluid language that Paz meant in his original Spanish. Even if I don't understand a lick of what's on the left side of the page in Spanish at least it can be read for it's beautiful sound. Listen to this, "Through the conduits of bone I night I water I forest that moves forward I tongue I body I sun-bone Through the conduits of night" and then on the even-numbered page, "Por el arcaduz de hueso yo noche yo agua yo bosque que avanza yo lengua yo cuerpo yo hueso de sol Por el arcaduz de noche."

What are you doing still sitting here reading my crappy writing when you could be reading Ocatavio Paz? Go get the book...you'll see.

Obra poética.
Helpful Votes: 3 out of 6 total.
Review Date: 2001-05-04
Example 1: "Un cuerpo, un cuerpo solo, sólo un cuerpo,/un cuerpo como día derramado/y noche devorada". Example 2: "Lates entre la sombra/blanca y desnuda: río." Octavio Paz is one of the first voices of the xxth century mexican poetry. He is the most important blend between clasicism and the modern trends in poetical expresion. He lived in France and thus, he experienced surrealism and mingled with the likes of Breton, Éluard, et al. In México he estimulated the literary critic and reviews to new standars of excelence. Read O. Paz.

Elegant
Helpful Votes: 5 out of 5 total.
Review Date: 2001-04-20
Paz' poetry is sublime, and elegant. The words and ideas simply slip off the page. Its like taking a bath in chocolate.

Paz consistently suprises the reader with new ideas, form, language. Paz creates an atmosphere that is soothing, and enchanting. I would highly recommend this work.


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