Poets Books

This is not your average powder puff poetry. Fagan sets the standard pretty high for young emerging poets with these new pieces. As anyone we know, anyone who feels lifes ups and downs and beautiful things, Aaron helps us puts those certain things on paper as we can only try to journal ourselves. Does that make sense? You see, he makes perfect sense, I can only try to put my thoughts down. Never even half as eloquent as Mr. Fagan.

I've been reading and re-reading this collection since it arrived. Fagan's poetry has the gritty truth of someone who has been to the places these poems describe, but what's refreshing here is that Fagan's poems about love ("it's more natural to listen to what's not said") and addiction ("He's got that look in his eye like he's going to throw up or make a toast to you") approach their subjects with both directness and irony, humor and dead seriousness. These poems are intelligent, intricate creatures that are nevertheless deeply emotional and moving, and I feel, reading them, like I'm glimpsing the world through the eyes of someone who is thoughtfully attuned to what people may be feeling, and the ways that we go wrong (the poem "Scatology," for example, starts as a very funny recounting of a trip to the zoo and ends with a provocative meditation on our seemingly lost ability to see the human part of ourselves). Written with a keen ear for the music in language, and never shying away from looking at things that will surely disturb his readers, this is an exciting debut. I'm eagerly looking forward to his next work.

Aaron Fagan's poems are simple, direct, and full of heart. I read poetry for what it tells me about the human experience, and what this book tells me is that there's hope.

Wow. This is great effin book. What makes this collection of poems just so cool is that it is exactly that thing which is like nothing you've ever read before. To wit, reasons why: 1) funny in inimitable fashion 2) yet, serious, willing to examine the absurdities inherent in the world (i.e. elephants crapping, strange cell calls) around and arrange them in forms of language that are just so fitting 3) poems that draw inspiration from a multitude of traditions and disciplines (see what he does with a paradelle!) while forging something new out of the demands of our strange, contemporary lives 4) because Kabuki Hologram is a such an outstanding fragment that it deserves it's own poem, 5) deep and wise and yet confounded by the variety of the everyday. This is poetry that cuts keenly and makes things open. If you like poetry by hot, young and cool talent, then you will love this book. Even if you don't, buy this book anyways, because it will turn you into someone who likes poetry by hot, young, cool talent. Also, if you need to impress a certain girl (or guy) you've had your eye on for quite some time, then buy this book and give it to them. You'll be in like flynn in no time. Trust me.

Really bad poems can sound really good if you read them with dramatic emphasis. Then there are poems that sound really good because there is a particular image that is cleverly crafted, or the language is cleverly crafted, or the idea and the arc of the poem is cleverly idea-d and arc-ed. I like Aaron's book because there is less concern for this, and more concern for the transmission of a feeling. The words and ideas in a poem ultimately fail over time. This book, however, taps into the fourth plane of a poem. If there is no heart, no genuine feeling, and if the poet can't surrender to something greater, then the work never lasts. Fagan's poems will. Fagan surrenders to something greater every time with heart and honesty and is fearless about how the poem is going to end up. He'd rather chase the truth.

Excellent book, some of his work is on the CSET test for teachers.
Great poems for class work.
Book was delivered swiftly, ahead of time. Great!

A Review of Gary Soto's New and Selected Poems:

"Clearing a path / Through the forest / A path that closed / Behind them / As the day opened / A smudge of its blue / They were the first / To leave, unnoticed / Without words / For it no longer / Mattered to say / The world was once blue" ("The First," 29-40).

So eloquently representative of Gary Soto's New and Selected Poems as a whole, these lines capture the essence of the book's journey through growth and understanding. Deeply connected to his roots, Soto's poems are an intimate portrayal of his perception of the world. Unabashedly tackling some of life's greatest mysteries, the poems grapple not only with God and death, but with the meaning of life in general. Beginning with the contemplation of a young boy, Soto's readers grow with the poems, bond with the persona, and ultimately feel a part of the poetry itself. Through keen detail and the virtues of a true poet, Soto does not tell, but rather shows, his readers who he was, and more importantly, how he has come to be.
Making direct reference to the pivotal point in which his life was changed forever Soto writes, "And the moment our father slipped / from a ladder our mother / Reached the door / That opened into a white room / A white nurse / It was the moment / I came down from the tree" ("The Evening of Ants," 35-40). Describing the day his father died, a common theme throughout the work, he openly states, "It was the moment / I came down from the tree" (29-30), meaning that it was the day he lost his innocence. Later, reflecting on the death, he sates, "He fell / From the ladder with an upturned palm / With the eyes of watery light / We went on with sorrow that found no tree / To cry from" ("Another Time," 32-37). It is this frankness and overt display of emotion that so intimately welcomes the reader into the poet's self. Describing not the death itself, but the consequences and its psychological toll, one becomes transfixed with the struggle and often finds oneself questioning if not they would react in the same way.
Drawing from the incredible loss at such a young age, this theme is continued as Soto's journey progresses with questions about God, and about faith itself. In a reflection on Heaven he writes, "Maybe you sit in a chair / Maybe earth is far below / Or maybe the new home is much closer / Just above the trees. / A sea howl at the window / - or you're those hangers banging / Quietly when the closet door opens / Conjectures. Little clues / Really. But we're hopeful we'll wake. / The chair is for us" ("Heaven," 9-10, 14-21). Clearly seeking understanding, perhaps for a reassurance is not final, Soto ponders the question of faith. In a darker reflection we read, "By the time I was eighteen and in junior college / Religion was something like this: The notion / Of "project" is an ambiguous substitute for the notion / Of quiddity, and that situation is / An ambiguous substitute for the notion of an / Objective condition resulting from the causes / And natures interacting in the world" ("Home Course in Religion," 1-7). This disconnected jumbled confusion of faith greatly contrasts a younger description in which he writes, "I was a pretty holy third grader... / I sat in the front pew / Among old Italian women hunched together / Like pigeons, happy because it was only a matter / Of time before Monsignor would say, we are sinners / I would look at my shoes / And nod my head Yes. / I recalled my sins." ("Some mysteries," 1, 6-11). An ongoing discussion in a quest to understand faith, Soto displays both blind understanding and acceptance, and an intellectual pursuit for answers. Not reaching any specific destination, the quest is left to the reader to embark upon him/herself. As for God Himself, Soto writes, "God, I see is bringing out his book / His tongue black from licking his pencil / Again and again" ("Planet News," 22-24). This idea of providence seems important to Soto as he writes, "So I went on, did not / Look back, but thought / That God was testing me" ("The Journey," 28-30). With the hardships experienced as a youth and a troubled young adulthood, it seems fitting that Soto would describe his life as "a test," and sensible that it was made endurable through the belief that despite hardship, God was still there "with his pencil," and that He hasn't been forgotten. This revelation of how to cope leads directly into his understanding of life in general.
He states, "A friend says, be happy. Desire. / Remember the blossoms/ In rain, because in the end / Not even the ants / Will care who we were / When they climb our faces / To undo the smiles" ("Between Words," 30-36). Gruesomely stating the necessity to carpe diem, Soto's entire collection is a description of examples. Overcoming adversity and fighting life's most difficult quandaries, one of the most delightful aspects of his poetry is a continual appreciation of the small things. Whether is be oranges, sparrows, flowers, or family, a simple joy of life is never absent from the poetry.
In conclusion, I present this collection of poetry as highly recommended. The subjects are real and the writing is human. In this poet, it is easy to find one-self. For those tired of tongue-tied poems with obscure meanings, this collection is for you. Soto is clear, concise, and a poet you won't soon forget. As he says, "How strange that we can begin at any time" ("Looking Around, Believing," 10). Begin today by buying this book!

I had resolved to try a new approach to buying books - first borrow them from the library and only buy them if I think I would read them again. I happened on Gary Soto's compilation by chance at the library - and it's the first book I am going to have to buy following my rule.

These are poems that draw you immediately into their world, which they create by the simplest of means - the most telling nouns, the most pungent verbs. It's all here - the child, the outsider, the lover, the starving, the optimistic. These are poems crafted out of a spareness of cloth, a richness of spirit. Poems that continue talking long after they have been laid aside.

Thanks to Chronicle Books for bringing out Soto's New and Selected Poems! So much of the man's stuff (especially the early stuff that I first fell for - the poems from Where Sparrows Work Hard and The Elements of the San Joaquin) is sadly out of print. But now, here's most of it presented in a thoughtful collection that gives us the best of the past and lets us catch up on the latest.

I love Soto for his heart that beats through every line and for the warm humor that softens the heavy stuff he has to show us. His poems, my students tell me, tell it like it is. His poems, my poet friends tell me, say it like it should be.

I await now the Collected Poems by Gary Soto. Are you listening Chronicle Books?

I find it sad that Gary Soto has been labeled by some as a "Mexican-American" poet. He is an American poet, or, better yet, a poet. From this book, I'd recommend these poems to be included in the Western canon: "At the All-Night Cafe", "Drinking in the Sixties", "Home Course in Religion", "Oranges", "Some Worry", and "Taking the Movies to the Streets".

The writing in this book all bears Ammons's mark of experimental, architectonic genius. He writes with severe intellect & a kooky sense of humor. He tends to prefer abstract thinking to emotion or physical objects or location. Gripping read.

There are more insights into language and life on any given page of this book than any poet has pulled off since, maybe, Auden. And I like Archie better than Auden. I agree with Harold Bloom: this poem is probably immortal.

Here this master of the book-length poem constructs a long poem different from other long poems of his, at the height of his command over poetics. This is a book of thoughts; he prefers the word in a conceptual space over the word as image. He also has a crazy sense of humor. Sections of this long poem are sectioned into very small units, & the form of 2-line stanzas is almost (but not quite) constanr throughout the book. The poems move as you would imagine the sphere on the cover would roll -- with a steady, hard arcing sound. I don't know this for sure yet, but I have a feeling Ammons liked associating his poetry with spheres so much because spheres are the shapes with the greatest surface area to volume ratio, & his words are just as voluminous in their terseness. In other news, his poetry in this book is its own very exciting avant-garde. Until his death on 25 Feb, 2001, more & more throughout his life, he was always creating wholly new spaces for poetry to move through. This his last book keeps moving.

Ammons was a master of the concise lyric, the witty aphorism, and the unusual nature narrative: a dialogue between a man and a mountain, for example. But he shines in his long poems, his book-length poems, of which "Glare" is the final example. The poem enacts the workings of an expansive supple probing ever-restless mind as it turns over all that comes at it centripetally as if it occupied the center of the universe. In a sense he did that as well as any American poet since Robert Frost. That is one measure of his greatness. There are others in the glare of mourning.

Incredibly it's really difficult to find A. R. Ammons poetry in bookshops in the UK. As far as I know his work isn't actually published here & so enthusiasts have to rely on specialist shops or on ordering his books (from internet bookstores or elsewhere). I first came across his worksevseral years ago in an anthology of American verse - & I've been hooked ever since. 'Glare' is a spectacular display of Ammon's deceptively easy-looking conversational style. Confident, funny, disarmingly direct, it touches on the wonderful & terrible business of living & growing old. The language is razor edged & playfully fuzzy - in exactly the right places & amounts. The long poem (of which 'Glare' is a very special example) has tripped-up many a gifted poet, but this has the sustained brilliance of someone competely at home with the form, someone who knows how to set poetic pace & rhythm to fit the task in hand. On a more commonplace note, it's a very engaging read. A book you can dip in & out of or settle down with. A book full of sparkiling wit, occasional glittering nuggets of wisdom, old-geezerish grumbling, rambling, ranting & poetry that will 'lift the top of your head off' as someone once said. He should be in the shops here. U.K. publishers please note.

As in her other volumes of poetry, Olds is a masterful documenter of the flesh. No living American poet writes as authentically about the body as she does -- the exquisite descriptions of sexuality (First Sex is particularly good), motherhood, and aging are not easily forgotten. In my favorite, California Swimming Pool, she captures adolescence so succinctly and alluringly that my own experience of 13 came rocketing back into my consciousness with an intensity which shocked me. Of all her volumes of poetry, this is my favorite.

Sharon Olds delves deeply into the heart of what it means to be human in her collection of poems, "The Gold Cell." I am continually amazed as to how she deals with taboo subjects, such as sex, religion, and morality, with direct and shockingly vivid language. In this particular collection of poems, Olds uses the image of blood to represent various motifs; the blood between family ties, its relation to sex and the body, and even the patriotic sense and the "Americaness" of blood. Using this single word, Olds is able to create an infinite number of images and meanings that go far beyond the common notion that blood is what supplies the body with life. This is by far one of the most influential books of poetry that I have encountered in my career. I do not recommend it to those who are squimish or who are prone to heart-failure at the mention of the word "sex" or "penis." While most of her poems are alluring and evocative, many will shock you with their unabashed treatment of sensitive subjects. For those of you who wish to divulge into the mind of what it means to be human, I whole-heartedly recommend this collection of poetry. Olds' poems not only examine what it means to be human but what it means to be moral beings. Prepare for a journey that will reveal the emotional and raw psychology of the human mind.

I've never read poetry this honest, this heart-wrenching, this intense, this passionate, this realistic, this humorous, this painful... I could go on for ages, but it would turn into drooling dribble. Olds is amazingly talented. Her work is graphic, as real life is, and not to be taken lightly. Buy it, commit to reading it, appreciate her world view.

Emily Dickinson once said something to the extent of, that when she felt that the top of her head had been taken off, she knew that was true poetry. That's how I felt while reading The Gold Cell, and I assure you, that's a great thing. This is an incredibly powerful read and well worth your time.

Stars are little for this book. There is a raw solace, poems become picked scabs.

If you want to know "how a haiku means" in English (as the poet John Ciardi might have said), buy this book.

Haiku, A Poet's Guide is a concise introduction to the art, craft, and aesthetics of haiku in English. The example haiku alone, selected by Gurga from poems that were suggested by many poets, are worth the price of the book. Gurga's illuminating comments on individual poems and on haiku in general are even more valuable.

An excellent book for the advanced writer of haiku as well as the beginner. You will find yourself referring to it over and over and re-reading it for the sheer pleasure of it. The only error is in the title - I have recommended this wonderful book to many non-poet friends and discovered to my delight that they enjoyed it as much as I. Truly, a treat!

You might like to know the contents of this book:

Forward v

An invitation to Haiku vii
A Note On The Text ix
Acknowledgements x

Contents xii

Haiku -- The Poetry of the Seasons 1
Haiku's seasonal Awareness 3
Japanese Haiku 4
The Development of American Haiku 9

The Art of Haiku 13
Form 14
Season 24
Haiku Moment, Context, and Order of Perception 33
Juxtaposition and Working with Images 38
Senses in Haiku 45
Suggestion and Reverberation 51
Significance and Effect 53

Not Exactly Haiku: Senryu and Zappai 55
Haiku with a Snap: Nature and Human Nature 55
Haiku with a Zap: Wit and Syllable Counting 57

The Craft of Haiku 59
Language 60
Haiku on the Page 67
Other Techniques of Japanese Haiku 77
Haiku Grammar 79
Poetic Devices 84
Objectivity, Subjectivity, and Subjective Realism 92
The Secret to Writing Haiku 104
Getting in the Mood 104

Writing and Revising Haiku 106
Beginners' Haiku 106
A Haiku Typology 108
Why Edit? 112
Guidelines for Editing 112
Publishing Haiku 116

Haiku Arts: Renku, Haibun, and Haiga 119
Linked Verse Forms 119
Haibun 121
Haiga 122

From Basho to Barthes 125
The Aesthetics of Classical Haiku 125
Shiki: Three Stages in the Development of the Haiku Poet 133
Barthes: Finding the Pleats in the Silk of Life 138

From Nature Sketch to Wordless Poem 140
Haiku's Universal Appeal 140
A Look Ahead 143

Works Cited 146

Resources 147

Books 147
Print Journals 152
Online Journals 154
Other Online Resources 154
Haiku Organizations 155

Credits 156

Index 163

***

This is a very informative book about haiku -- what it is and what it is not.

The author's writing is unambiguous and insightful.

He places examples of failed haiku beside successful ones to illustrate the difficulties and subtleties of technique.

***

I was very pleased to find a point addressed that I had always wondered about concerning whether it is better to use the present-tense or participle form for verbs in haiku -- or whether it matters at all.

A haiku almost always will present a moment in the present. That means that the verbs used are likely to be in the form of either the simple present-tense (e.g. runs, paints, fishes, etc.) or participle (e.g. running, painting, fishing, etc).

Well, apparently there is no set rule about which to use, but here is an example of what the use of the participle will allow:

One of my own haiku used as an example:

a garden pond
drawing the moon out
from behind a cloud

The use of drawing allows that it can be read as any of these: "a garden pond [is] drawing" or "...[was] drawing," or even "...[will be] drawing."
Using the participial form provides the haiku with a versatility or flexibility with regard to the dimension of time.

Here's what it would be using the simple present tense form:

a garden pond
draws the moon out
from behind a cloud

The versatility that the participle provided is gone, but it also may be true that this version rings more pleasurably to the ear.

Well, anyway he speaks about that in his book and I just appreciated that he addressed that point; no other haiku book that I have ever read had ever done so.

(By the way, if you are interested in reading about this particular point for yourself it is to be found starting on page 79 in the "Haiku Grammar" section.)

***
In conclusion:

The author thoroughly fills you in about haiku's origins, evolution and its future.

There are many examples of successful haiku from many of today's practicing haiku poets included with valuable analysis for each.

This is a very worthwhile book for becoming acquainted with the haiku verse form and I could find no fault with it.

I heartily recommend it to you.

. . . but anyone serious about writing haiku in English (or any language, if they read English) will find *Haiku: A Poet's Guide* invaluable. Unlike other books on haiku which make your head spin with lists and rules for beginners, this one helps beginners get off the ground and soon reach the point where they can evaluate their own work. Coming as it does from the editor of the premiere English-language haiku magazine and a fine poet (get his *Fresh Scent*, while you're at it), this book goes into more depth, yields more insight, than anything else available in the field so far. This is the one to keep on your desk or in your backpack.

So, you may be hesitating over the price. Don't! Lee Gurga's, Haiku a Poet's Guide, is a MUST have. (Yes, Jane Reichhold's, Writing and Enjoying Haiku, and William J Higginson's, The Haiku Handbook ARE necessary) But this book completes the triumvirate. Gurga's clear, engaging writing style, explanation and example illuminate the path to haiku. If you want to try to write your own or have lingering unanswered questions, this book will dispel any doubts. It's exactly what it says it is, "Haiku: a Poet's Guide", and worth every penny.

I was recently in London to hear Dr. Diamond speak and was astonished at the literary intelligence of the English. They really loved this book! I think it's such an important work, and wish that every student of literature could look at the classics in the way Dr. Diamond looks at them- for their life energy raising properties.

Blake is always beautiful, and more profoundly so in the style Diamond has laid his words out.

I have always loves Blake - in particular the facsimile editions with Blake's watercolor designs bordering the beautiful copper-plate text, but nowhere have I been struck by the power of his writing to the extent that I have by this volume. The layout that Dr. Diamond has chosen adds immeasurably to the force of Blake's words. The imagery in these passages leaps off the page, and the reader is given a compelling sense of the creative visions that must have inspired Blake to write.

This is a wonderful collection of Blake's later poems is specifically edited to enhance their therapeutic power and comprehensibility. This anthology, more than any other I have come across, helps to make these obscure works accessible; and the layout and punctuation has deepened my experience of them.

What a wonderful book! I highly recommend it as an introduction to Blake. I had read his "Songs of Innocence and Experience," but I did not know his prophetic writings were so powerful. I also enjoyed the humor found in extracts from Blake's letters and other writings. Phrases from the poems come back during my quiet moments, inspiring me with their beauty, imagination and fire. Dr. John Diamond has done a beautiful job in selecting and laying out the passages. His introduction is also stimulating and insightful. In addition, the book is well produced -- it is put together with friendliness and care. (And the cover is exquisite -- worth the price by itself!)

I love this book. I keep it by my armchair and open it when there's a quiet moment. And when I do, the power of Blake comes to me and helps me throughout my day. Only Blake speaks with such passion and strength, and his poetry is presented here unadulterated by titles, footnotes or page the poetry in landscape format so that Blake's long lines need not be broken. Whatever your previous experience of poetry, this book will enhance your life in a way that only such a distillation of Blake could achieve

Rediscovered this down to earth poet with great enjoyment. Who else can offer poetry about such diverse subjects as "the women in my family eating bones" and "from the window of my mother's hospital room"?

The Human Line like her other inspiring work Mules of Love illustrates Ellen's unique insight into the human experience. From the scenes inside the hospital to the two lovers in the airport there is always a wonderful sense of joy and solace within each poem.
I spent many years of my life avoiding poetry until I realized that a great poet is also a wonderful and insightful storyteller and Ellen Bass' latest work has many brilliant tales to tell.

Over and over this small book of poetry reveals the most human truths of our lives: the aching tenderness of our feelings towards our children; the searing pain of watching, helping a mother die; the wry recognition of our flawed and beloved partners and friends; the determination to have hope in the face of a world filled with injury and destruction.
Read this. Savor every page. Buy it for everyone you treasure.

I loved this book of poems. I have been reading Ellen Bass' poetry for many years. This book is full of a rich and lived sense of experience. I recommend it highly.
Anina Kane

I am new to Ellen Bass' poetry as well as fairly new to the experience of reading and hearing all poetry, but I have the deep privilege of being her student. Ellen teaches what she knows about life and writing as naturally as I breathe oxygen. Vision, metaphor, telling stories in order to tell the truth, understanding the monster aspects of us all -- her wisdom enhances her students' lives as well as our writing.
My favorite of all her poems (so far) is 'Gate C22.' I can so clearly see not only the two people kissing, but all the other people in the airport watching them, mesmerized. 'The Woman Who Killed My Cat' receives from Ellen the compassion I'm not sure I could muster.
In order to read 'In Praise of Four-Letter Words' or 'Bone of My Bone and Flesh of My Flesh,' please buy her book.

Annie Scott

Hakim Bey is a hero in his own post-heroic age. But forget about him and read the book, an inspirational instruction manual for reclaiming real meaning and community through creating events and situations outside of money-culture. Immediatism insists on privacy, even secrecy, lest it find itself touted as the next flavor of the week, hence the paradox inherent in the book's very publication. Maybe it'll change your life, maybe it'll confuse you, maybe it'll just keep you occupied on your next flight to Vegas, but "Immediatism" is a must for those of us looking for a way out.

if you've ever felt the impulse to rebel against society, not just in a political or formal way but in a truly volatile, existential way, bey is the writer for you. he does NOT advocate violence or murder, although he considers values with respect to these actions as relative as all other values. he exhorts us to bizarre, unconventional, 'abnormal' behavior and says explicitly that there is no real certainty as to the meaning of life, the purpose of being, etc, but does not draw pointless doom gloom conclusions from this as so many of those whiny french intellectuals did. on the contrary, he tells us to take joy in the life of the mind and the senses, and he does what very few revolutionaries even attempt:he launches an all out war on the media and it's primary evil medium, the television. he is in favor of the individual, or group of individuals, creating their own 'imaginal values' and wants to free us from the death grip of mental slavery imposed by authority of any kind, be it secular, religious, economic, etc. this is not quite as good as TAZ, but it comes damn close.

In the temporoary Autonimous Zone, Hakim Bey evoked a spirit of insurrection. In Immediatism, he gives ideas on just what to do with this wild spirit or "strange attractor" once it's flying around your kitchen.

Immediatism basically entails a return to an economy of the gift, or reciprocity rather than commodity. Bey suggests forming secret societies of "art terrorism" and quilting bees with a twist. The point is to keep your art away from the Spectacle. If THEY get ahold of you, you're (...).

This is not a political program for those who enjoy dry sessions of critcism/self criticism and "non-violent" resistance. It is about creating a new society "in the rotting shell of the old". It is for true radicals, not "reformers" or "progressives". Bey is as hostile toward leftist values as he is right wing morality. Immeidatism is about life, not theory. It is for those who wish to dance with Chaos.

Immediatism is inspirational and beautiful, but at the same time terrifying. Bey challenges everything we thought we knew about art, about community, and about life. A book you won't soon forget, no matter how you try!

A collection of relatively short essays all circling around a specific subject: immediatism, in both senses of the word; both as immediate, now and without mediation. It's a way of life that appeals to me, and likely to any other sensualists who find the stale repitition of pre-formed media dull.

You're likely able to enjoy this work with only one dictionary at your side, though of courseit does still give you a lot to think about, and even more to put into action. The style is easy and more readily accessible, the suggestions and manifestos are more likely to become realized in a smaller environment. It's become another book on my recommended reading list.

I recommend that any fan of William Blake buy this volume and the other 5 in the series. The books are beautiful, large, and handsomely bound. Each book is reproduced in full color, using a six-color printing process rather than the standard four. The pages are heavy, opaque and have a gorgous lustre indicating very high quality paper. The text of each book accompanies the color reproductions in standard typeface with very competent commentary to boot.

This is one of the most truly incredible books I have ever read. Every page is gorgeous.

It is a "modern" retelling of Revelations through the eyes of Blake using characters and a world essentially created by Blake himself. For instance, the Holy Land is now England.

You'll want to study the accompanying notes for each plate. For as you're reading the story, you're also researching how it came about, why certain characters act the way they do, and what the images on each plate represent. I was wondering why it was taking so long to complete the book, then i realized I was taking 5-10 minutes per page. First, reading it. Then examining the plate's art. Then reading the text's notes. And finally, reading the author's notes.

The way the book was put together is perfect for modern presentation. I haven't seen any of the older copies of this story, but I can't see how much better they could have done. It has a special spot on my bookshelf, unparalleled.

I am drawn to this work. When the British Museum at Yale held a special Blake exhibition my family and I were lucky enough to attend and see all 100 plates of this book on display. They were breathtaking. This edition is a very fine reproduction and deserves the highest praise. It isn't the real thing, but amazingly close for the price. It is so good that it rewards study with a magnifying glass. Obviously, the real gold Blake put into the original (at what must have been staggering expense for a man that was so poor there were times he couldn't afford food) doesn't duplicate its brilliant sheen, but this is pretty good.

Not only are there the 100 plates of copy E (the one in the Mellon collection in the British Museum at Yale), there are some sample plates from other version and all of the text in printed form with commentary.

This is an incredible work that is bewildering in scope in a joy to lose yourself in. Extremely recommended if you love Blake at all.

Jerusalem is Blake's monumental final work, 100 densely filled large plates/pages. It also seems the most Blakean (it begins with a friendly address to the reader that has had all the friendly words gouged out); not surprisingly, Blake produced only one color copy (reproduced here), which he never sold. The book overwehlms, presenting essentially all of Blake's very complicated questions about authenticity and creation through particularly abstract mythology. It is therefore a good idea to have some experience with Blake's earlier books before attempting J. The text does not exist without Blake's awesome illustrations/illuminations. While this edition is excellent, I give it only four stars because 1. the transcription of the plates does not occur on opposite pages, but rather in a separate section, and 2. the editorial assistence is scarce, and when present, oblique. These faults are noticable mainly in relation to other outstanding titles in the Blake Trust series (published later), and are hardly fatal. You're unlikely to find a better edition.

I recommend that any fan of William Blake buy this volume and the other 5 in the series. The books are beautiful, large, and handsomely bound. Each book is reproduced in full color, using a six-color printing process rather than the standard four. The pages are heavy, opaque and have a gorgous lustre indicating very high quality paper. The text of each book accompanies the color reproductions in standard typeface with very competent commentary to boot.

Byron claimed to be outside of metaphysical thinking, which Chesterton said is hypocritical; Byron could not exist without the philosophical generational zeitgeist of Kant, Swedenborg, Lamark and Rousseau and the energy they created towards looking at first causes/orgins; time induced thinking which created the sociological inspired individual responsibility of man towards society and his self-induced muckiness of Malthusian conjectures and the societal induced causes of injustice of Mill towards the individual, and the conjectural futurism of Marx and Hegel, which inspired Darwin, the big bang theory, Hegel's historical religiosity, religious anthropology (then Joseph Campbell), Hitler's paganism, Zionism, other indigenous rights movements, anthropology in general, and psychology. Man's profound and deep rooted sense of his being in the field of time. Byron's "Cain" seems somewhat inspired by the discovery of fossils and dinosaur evidence by Baron Cuvier. Byron's energetic placement of himself in the tide of history, destiny, and time was a mark of his times and his interpretation may have influenced Wagner and definitely influenced Neitzsche. He was a product of his age and energy. The same energy America was born under, at least in this geist's earliest stage. Byron was a product of the metaphysics of his day and the generation previous, consciously of Rousseau and unconsciously of the others. Byron rode this wild beast of freedom and liberty of his time and verbally puked over the common sense and good decorum of British good nature and decency. He was a poetic rebel. Poetry would never quite recover and have the good name (according to Wilfrid Sheed in his forward "Leave it to Psmith") in the English-speaking world but young poetic followers of Byron would be trampled on by teachers, fellow students, and professors ever after. Even today poets are seen as a sort of pest in the eyes of common English-speakers. Byron was extremely popular on the European continent where poetry still has a good name. No other poet has been more talked about since Byron and Byron's criticism of other poets of his day plus his questioning of the honor of Britain surely played a part in that. Byron's energy and ideas left England shocked and she never quite recovered.

Goethe said no poet of Byron's stature would come again and he was a formative poet, one where the reader is transformed, and that makes him great; but Goethe also pointed at a child, an immature, aspect of Byron as well.

Byron lived a full life, he was a rebel, and a genius. Loving life and living were what he was about and his poetry places himself his actions in some encompassing history of destiny and fate. He had a passion for liberty and humanism yet he maintained an aura of sorrow. His descriptions of himself might well reflect his own on Rousseau (p.127-), except he stood on the opposite side the history of revolution and Napoleon; perhaps he was that of a more matured Rousseau but still immature none-the-less. He often took a stoic sad appreciation of storms, rough waves, avalanches. G K Chesterton pointed to Byron having sad words but his prosody is that of and optimist, he exudes optimism faces his storms with inspiring optimism. Byron was complex and possibly the most influential poet of all time.


His success and the challenges it posed to the social mores and what was considered respectable thinking were difficult for Byron's native land to swallow. According to Wilfred Sheed, in his introduction to "Leave it To Psmith" by Wodehouse, focused academics and Head Masters and such to derisively quell any Byron-like poet upstarts and left the English-speaking world with something shallow, or at the best more subtle. But as France went on to produce Rimbauds and Flauberts the English-speaking world produced entertainment that mocks their sort, and their artsy kind; English entertainment like Gilbert and Sullivan and Wodehouse -- Byron mocked England in his own day the English choose an art that mocked him. Byron did not glorify the great battles of his nation in his day, like Waterloo, but merely equated England as a sort of cog in history; slowing things down but really not affecting anything for the better. Plus he gave more credit to Russia for Napoleon's defeat then the British might want to have admitted.

Just to let anyone know, if you are looking for romantic poetry I would say at least half of this is not romantic. Just because Byron was a poet of the Romantic Period does not mean it's about love. He was very clever and had outstanding lyrical ballads (some of which, yes, are about women and love) but also broody - Don Juan and Childe Harold are primarily social commentary on world politics. Overall I enjoyed his work for its wit in comparison with Wordsworth's poetry.

All passion, intensity and fire, Byron cuts a swathe through the Regency era's lights, literature and ladies. He does so in a style that is the most beautiful and high prose you will ever read; magnificent curving arcs of words that could have come straight from the proud mouth of an archangel (or Lucifer himself). Of course, he occasionally descends into petty back-stabbing, misogyny and generally seems to be a bit of a spoilt child with too much time on his hands, but you can forgive him that just for Childe Harold's Pilgrimage alone.

This book claims to contain most of Lord Byron's major works and it certainly is a full volume, weighing in at over 1000 pages in paperback format. The larger works include the above-mentioned Pilgrimage and Don Juan. These take up at least 700 pages themselves. The remaining space is occupied by Manfred - a rather Nietzschean work about a magician; the Giaour - a tale of unrepentant love and loss; Mazeppa - a story of a man whose fortunes fall and rise dramatically; Beppo - a Venetian affaire de cour; Cain - an intense retelling of the biblical tale with Manichean overtones, and assorted shorter poems. There are also fifty pages of assorted correspondence with various individuals. The book comes equipped with a very short introduction (for a book of 1000 pages), a chronology of Byron's life, an index and end notes. There is very little in the way of explanation of why pieces are included and the end notes are mostly helpful but often explain the obvious while leaving the obscure, obscure. If you like books that contain no analysis, this is for you, but if you want things explained you will do better with something else.

Personally, I preferred the intensity and vision of Childe Harold, Cain and the Giaour to the more sarcastic and occasionally contrived style of Don Juan. Byron is at his best describing beauty - be it nature, art or woman. And much, if not all, of what he writes about is related to the fairer sex. You should write what you know about, they say, and Byron certainly knew women - in both the intellectual and biblical sense. His love affairs raged across all of Europe and brought him condemnation from his peers - particularly his dalliance with his half-sister. His books are full of the worship of the beauty of women and he objectifies them in a way that is entirely politically incorrect in our day and age and likely was then as well. If you can get past the fact that he seems like a teenage boy in rut most of the time, his descriptive powers, characterization, wit, sheer beauty and nobility of expression are sure to please.

Byron was the god of his age. He was worshipped throughout Europe .Today that glory has largely faded and his place in the pantheon of literary greats is somewhat diminished. With Byron there too is the question of the sensational personal life and the heroic role he adopted for himself as revolutionary liberator in Greece's war of independence. As for the poetry I doubt that too many read ' Childe Harold ' with the kind of hunger and enthusiasm it was read in Byron's time. But Byron is an incredible lyricist and there is great poetry in his canon. ' He is a figure of great passion and power, the arch- romantic hero including the demonish mysterious side. For me the total works of Byron are not to be chewed and digested but to be skimmed and tasted. There is much beauty in them.
'She walks in beauty like the night / of cloudless climes and starry skies/ And all that's best of dark and bright / Meet in her aspect and her eyes: / Thu mellowed to that tender light/ Which heaven to gaudy day denies.

Lord Byron was perhaps the most dazzling and influential figure of the Romantic movement. He was certainly the most colorful, controversial, and celebrated poet of his time. His poetic style is controlled, yet the sentiments expressed are passionate. He can be sad and despairing in one stanza, then ecstatically happy in the next, and it is these impulsive mood swings which made him no less contradictory in his beliefs and actions. He wrote some wonderful lyrical poems, but my favorite are his long poems, like "Don Juan." He is and was a captivating personality and a brilliant poet.

David Rehak
author of "Poems From My Bleeding Heart"