Donne: Poems (Everyman's Library Pocket Poets) Review

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Donne: Poems (Everyman's Library Pocket Poets) ReviewJohn Donne wrote some of the most beautiful, intelligent, and passionate poetry in the English language! With some poets you get 1 or 2 of these qualities: with Donne you get all 3, and so I highly recommend his poetry to all lovers of poetry and English literature. The language is archaic and at times difficult, but that's also some of its beauty and charm. What's more noteworthy but less noticed than the oldness of the language is how fresh and alive it still seems and must have seemed in centuries past! While I love Donne's poetry especially because of his intelligent and beautiful passion for God, even those without religious faith will appreciate the brilliance and glory of Donne's poetry.
If you're able to keep up with Donne's poetry, you'll discover startling phrases and juxtapositions which were frowned upon in ages past but which I find helps invigorate the modern reader. Whether your primary way of apprehending poetry is religious, intellectual, or aesthetic, Donne will be a delight to you as it does me. Donne's poetry also has a very personal association with me: when I was courting my wife and in the early years of my marriage, I would read her the poetry of Donne and George Herbert. She not only loved the poetry but loved me more for having read it to her!
This Everyman's Library Pocket Poets edition is noteworthy because it's a relatively inexpensive hardcover edition of Donne's poetry. It also includes excerpts from much of his prose.
Highly recommended!
Donne: Poems (Everyman's Library Pocket Poets) OverviewThe Everyman's Library Pocket Poets hardcover series is popular for its compact size and reasonable price which does not compromise content. Poems: Donne contains Songs and Sonnets, Letters to the Countess of Bedford, The First Anniversary, Holy Sonnets, Divine Poems, excerpts from Paradoxes and Problems, Ignatius His Conclave, The Sermons, Essays and Devotions, and an index of first lines.

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Walt Whitman (Lives & Legacies (Oxford)) Review

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Walt Whitman (Lives & Legacies (Oxford)) ReviewThis year, 2005, marks the 150th anniversary of the first publication of Walt Whitman's "Leaves of Grass", the most influential work of poetry yet written in the United States. The event has been appropriately marked by new editions of Whitman, new studies, and by many conferences and celebrations to explore Whitman's legacy.
But the most fitting way to celebrate Whitman is to read or to reread him. David Reynolds's short biography, "Walt Whitman" (2005) breaks no new ground about its subject. Instead, in 154 pages it introduces the reader to the main facts of Whitman's life and to the many themes that appear in his poetry and prose works. It is a good introduction for those readers wishing some background before beginning a study of Whitman. David Reynolds is Distinguished Professor of English and American Studies at Baruch College and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. This book is largely a distillation of Professor Reynolds's longer study "Walt Whitman's America: A Cultural Biography" (1995).
Walt Whitman (1819-1892) had little formal education. He held a variety of jobs as a newspaper editor and writer before publishing his masterpiece, the first edition of "Leaves of Grass" in 1855. This work set forth a vision of a United States based upon pluralism, egalitarianism, a kind of secularized and ecumenical mysticism, and acceptance of one's sexuality that many readers, myself included, still find deeply inspiring. Whitman largely fulfilled the goal he set himself of setting forth the ideals of the United States in poetic form. The free verse he developed in "Leaves of Grass" changed dramatically the structure and technique of subsequent poetry.
Professor Reynolds's study opens with a brief chapter on Whitman's life. The remaining six chapters of the book discuss themes and influences important to Whitman and to the understanding of his work. Professor Reynolds offers vivid but brief pictures of the New York City of Whitman's day, of Whitman's interest in oratory, the theater, and music, both popular and classical. Professor Reynolds describes Whitman's interest in the new medium of photography and in art. There is a discussion of Whitman's religious and philosophical views and of his dream of a secular, ecumenical, yet personal faith. We see Whitman's interests in phrenology, spiritualism, and, later in life, in the religions of the East. There is a chapter on Whitman's attitudes towards sexuality -- a subject much explored which receives only a limited treatment here -- and a chapter on Whitman's reverence for Lincoln and on his services during the Civil War as a nurse. The themes of each chapter are illustrated with appropriate short quotations from Whitman's prose and poetry.
I think Whitman's importance lies in his poetic expression of the democratic ideal, his commitment to nonsectarian religion, and to his recognition of the force of sexuality in human life which, interestingly, Whitman thought formed one of the bases of democracy. The Nobel-Prize winning author J.M. Coetzee has recently written that "the most attractive feature of Whitman's dreamed-of United States is that it does not demand of its citizens the sublimation of eros in the interest of the state." (New York Review, September 22, 2005, p. 22) Reynolds's book will introduce the reader to these aspects of Whitman's work.
Reynolds's book will have served its purpose if in encourages readers to visit or revisit Whitman. For those readers wanting to do so, I recommend the outstanding edition of Whitman's poetry and major prose works in the Library of America series.
Robin Friedman
Walt Whitman (Lives & Legacies (Oxford)) Overview

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The Classic Treasury of Aesop's Fables Review

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The Classic Treasury of Aesop's Fables ReviewIt is true - the drawings in this book are beautiful. However, I was hoping that the telling of the fables would have more of the original flavor. The stories have been updated to at least the 20th century. I am sure that when Aesop told the stories, the Country Mouse and the City Mouse didn't have to dodge automobiles and miss stepping in bubblegum. It was misleading that Aesop is listed as "editor" because the stories are not as he told them.
The overall messages (ie morals) are there. I just was disappointed that it was so updated. I'm sure that serves its purpose, but it wasn't what I wanted.The Classic Treasury of Aesop's Fables OverviewIn The Classic Treasury of Aesop's Fables, there are twenty tales, each told through a series of lush, colorful pictures, which end with the simple moral, evoked in a single sentence. Children will love to see what befalls Aesop's cast of creatures that includes dogs, mice, and lions, proving that no one is too big or small to learn a thing or two.

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Edgar Allan Poe: Poems and Poetics (American Poets Project) Review

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Edgar Allan Poe: Poems and Poetics (American Poets Project) ReviewThe introduction gives an interesting perspective of Poe I had not read in other critiques; that Poe's writings about loss and death were intended to serve readers on a spiritual level. The reader is engaged by some kind of attachment, and then that attachment is ripped away by death or loss. What are you left with? The spirit, which goes on. It is an interesting theory and gives a completely different view of Poe's intentions and the depth of his compassion for humanity.
On that, the way the slim book ends is perfectly compiled. Rather than wading through the entire Eureka, we are given only the last third, enough to get excited about the main points about the meaning of life, the universe, and everything. Poe was a visionary of E=M though he didn't have the constant C2 yet, and a visionary of intelligent design reconciled with string theory's Anthropic Principle (currently being rediscovered by Leonard Susskind). We see the end of this universe, and we feel the loss of all we had been attached to, while seeing the higher purpose as the universe returns to unity. Eureka is then followed by the perfect conclusion statement, the short and fun dialogue, "The Power of Words," in which two angels look back on the Earth after it's destroyed, and chat about knowledge, happiness, creation, creatures, and creativity.
The Intro and the last two poems are worth double the price of the book!Edgar Allan Poe: Poems and Poetics (American Poets Project) OverviewOne of America's most admired living poets revisits an American original. Richard Wilbur explores the philosophical depth of verse more widely noted for its macabre and gothic surfaces and uniquely matches the whole canon of Poe's mature poetry with a judicious selection of essays and stories that illuminate his poetic goals.

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Pushkin Review

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Pushkin ReviewIt is hard to believe that the man regarded by most Russians as the cornerstone of their literature is not better known in the West; trying to understand Russia without knowing anything about Pushkin smacks of trying to understand the English-speaking world without knowing anything about Shakespeare. Ms. Feinstein does an excellent job describing the life and work of this extrordinary man and his effect on his times and the Russian people. The chapter on the events leading up to the fatal duel reads like Greek tragedy and I was alternately fascinated and horrified by the attitudes of Russian high society and the government towards Pushkin and his inevitable confrontation with d'Anthes. My two quibbles are that the epilogue really doesn't tell us much about what happened to the major characters in Pushkin's life after he died and that Ms. Feinstein's proofreader did not catch that Ibrahim Hannibal was Pushkin's maternal great-grandfather, not his maternal grandfather; the relationship is misstated a number of times in the book. These two fairly minor points aside, this is a book I would recommend to anyone wanting to know more about Russia's greatest writer, Blok's "one bright name: Pushkin."Pushkin Overview

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Erotic Poems (Everyman's Library Pocket Poets) Review

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Erotic Poems (Everyman's Library Pocket Poets) ReviewI find myself perplexed. What is desire?
The impulse to make someone else complete?
When I purchased the Everyman Love Poems book I was excited about purchasing additional selections. I must say this book was not exactly what I expected and even the author makes a note about these poems being sensuous and passionate but not erotic as we would imagine erotic to be today. This could make you happy or cause you disappointment. I found many of the poems to be more exotic than erotic. While many are striking and interesting, there are not many that inspire immediate desire. The poems seem to be more of a study of poetry than a presentation for pleasure. The poems are more romantic and interesting with short moments of sensuality.
Many of the poems seem to focus more on environments than erotic experience, although there are many references to the body and emotions. They seem to be more of an afterthought than the main theme in many of the poems. Poems like The Imperfect Enjoyment by Lord Rochester and Twin Hills by Vidyapati are the exception.
In my body you search the mountain
for the sun buried in its forest.
In your body I search for the boat
adrift in the middle of the night.
~Octavio Paz
Erotic Poems is also a collection of poems written mostly by men (and many are translated by men) and therefore seems to lack the diversity I was seeking in an erotic poem collection. While I love reading poems by men, I missed the female perspective. I could also not understand why they included Aurelius by Catullus or Hello There by Philodemus.
While Peter Washington organized the poems in a chain of thematic association, it would seem better to have poems with more variety and to include more poems by female poets. Sylvia Plath (1932-1963) makes her appearance with Zoo Keeper's Wife and I rather liked the lines about how she pretended to be the Tree of Knowledge. Himalayan Balsam is also a beautiful poem by Anne Stevenson.
You will find numerous poems by Robert Graves and Charles Baudelaire. You will also find poems by D.H. Lawrence, Walt Whitman, Thom Gunn, Li Ch'ung, Anon, Pablo Neruda and William Blake.
There are poems for a variety of tastes, however most of the poems seem to be classic selections that focus on descriptions of nature or emotions instead of erotic encounters. While there are quite a few moments of sexual beauty, I seem to prefer the poems in Passionate Hearts by Wendy Maltz. It seems this collection of Erotic Poems is a classic representation of what Erotic Poems used to be. If you are looking for modern erotic poems, you may be disappointed. What is interesting is that with some patience, this book reveals a commonality of desire. It is more a study of longing and desire veiled in metaphors with an occasional "enters warm yes" moment. This book seems to inspire a lust for language and a need to locate your dictionary.
I think if you read this book, you will definitely want to look for The Erotic Spirit edited by Sam Hamill and A Book of Love Poetry edited by Jon Stallworthy. You may also enjoy Perfectly Said by Brian Douthit or A Night Without Armor by Jewel.
~The Rebecca Review
Erotic Poems (Everyman's Library Pocket Poets) OverviewThese poems, selected from most of the cultures and histories of world literature, provide magnificent witness to the fact that love is as much an act of the imagination as it is of the body. From fourth-century Li Ch'ung's "Parody of a Lover" to John Betmeman's "Late-Flowering Lust," they re-create, through the revelations of language, that experience of the erotic. Other poets include Theodore Roethke, Robert Graves, Octavio Paz, Joseph Brodsky, Sylvia Plath, Frederico Garcia Lorca, Percy Bysshe Shelley, and many others.

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Tagore: The Mystic Poets (The Mystic Poets Series) Review

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Tagore: The Mystic Poets (The Mystic Poets Series) ReviewWhat else can be said about Tagore's poetic mysticism that has not been already said? Tagore is deeply movingTagore: The Mystic Poets (The Mystic Poets Series) OverviewDiscover How Tagore's Spiritual Life and Vision Can Enlighten Your OwnRabindranath Tagore is one of the most influential mystic poets and teachers of his time. Deeply spiritual and profoundly sensitive, his verse speaks to people from all backgrounds who seek a deeper understanding of self, country, creation, God, and love.This beautiful sampling of Tagore's two most important works, The Gardener and Gitanjali, offers a glimpse into his spiritual vision that has inspired people around the world. Poems from The Gardener explore youth and earthly love, while excerpts from Gitanjali express divine love and Tagore's difficulty in satisfying it.Overwhelmingly mystical and lovely in its simplicity, this unique collection offers insight into Tagore's heavenly desires, his ongoing quest for Brahama Vihara, the joy eternal, and illuminates the remarkable diversity that made him the most important bridge between the spirituality of the East and West in the first half of the twentieth century.Rabindranath Tagore's philosophical and spiritual thoughts transcend all limits of language, culture, and nationality. In his writings, the poet and mystic takes us on a spiritual quest and gives us a glimpse of the infinite in the midst of the finite, unity at the heart of all diversity, and the Divine in all beings and things of the universe.—from the Preface by Swami Adiswarananda, Minister and Spiritual Leader of the Ramakrishna-Vivekananda Center of New York

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