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Profound and Touching
Heart Warming
Thirst
Thirst--a search for answers
Thirst Quencher

Thirst: Poems
Mary Oliver
Manufacturer: Beacon Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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At Blackwater Pond: Mary Oliver Reads Mary Oliver
New and Selected Poems, Volume Two
Why I Wake Early: New Poems
New and Selected Poems: Volume One
Long Life: Essays and Other Writings

ASIN: 0807068969

Book Description

A new chapter in Mary Oliver's illustrious career, this collection takes us inside the poet's grief and her discovery of faith Thirst, a collection of forty-three new poems from the Pulitzer Prize-winner Mary Oliver, introduces two new directions in the poet's work. Grappling with grief at the death of her beloved partner of over forty years, she strives to experience sorrow as a path to spiritual progress, grief as part of loving and not its end. And within these pages she chronicles for the first time her discovery of faith, without abandoning the love of the physical world that has been a hallmark of her work for four decades. In three stunning long poems, Oliver explores the dimensions and tests the parameters of religious doctrine, asking of being good, for example, "To what purpose? / Hope of Heaven? Not that. But to enter / the other kingdom: grace, and imagination, / and the multiple sympathies: to be as a leaf, a rose,/ a dolphin."

Customer Reviews:

Profound and Touching.......2007-06-27

I have long admired the works of Mary Oliver. Her clarity comes from some deep, mystical spring that feeds her spirit and in turn allows her to feed ours, as well.

A joyful read.

Heart Warming.......2007-05-28

The book is fantastic. My friend was recently buried and his daughter read "Heavy" at the service. It really made sense and it softened the heart. I love this work!! Thanks so much.

Thirst.......2007-05-14

I love every poem in this book. I first heard one of Mary Olivers' poems about 20 yrs. ago.
Had to get her books-they speak directly to my soul and reminds me of the awe in nature and the spirit within us all.

Thirst--a search for answers.......2007-05-14

In Mary Olivers' latest book, Thirst, I find, once again, her never-ending quest for the answers that we all seek...her spirituality pours over the edges of the book and onto myself...and I, in turn, struggle alongside her to find the same answers...she, once again, helps us in and on our spiritual path....Thanks, Mary...your writing is still pure and thoughtful...and makes me realize that I am not the only seeker in the world.

Thirst Quencher.......2007-05-08

Mary Oliver's latest book of poetry
brings me to the center of Life,
inhaling deeply, noticing with amazement.
Her voice is vibrantly authentic,
her words sparse and poignant;
a bell tone inviting
a stillnes born of trust.

The Poetry of Robert Frost: The Collected Poems, Complete and Unabridged

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Robert Frost, the poet for poetry lovers
Frost's treasure
North Country Simple?
Trite and banal
Good Collection

The Poetry of Robert Frost: The Collected Poems, Complete and Unabridged
Robert Frost
Manufacturer: Henry Holt and Co.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Similar Items:

The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson
Collected Poems, 1909-1962 (The Centenary Edition)
Whitman: Poetry and Prose (Library of America College Editions)
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ASIN: 0805005021

Amazon.com Audiobook Review

Listening to these time-honored poems, it's difficult to imagine the young Frost struggling to find a publisher for his work. In fact, he was nearly 40 (and living in England, of all places) when A Boy's Will, his first collection, appeared. Over the next 50 years he would become the quintessential American poet, securing a well-cushioned catbird seat in the literary canon.

Performers Susan Anspach, Roscoe Lee Browne, and Elliott Gould, among others, heighten the conversational cadences of a writer who seldom strayed from his beloved iambs. Included are "Mending Wall," "The Road Not Taken," "The Death of the Hired Man," "The Fear," and much more, all complete and unabridged. (Running time: 1 hour, 1 cassette) --Martha Silano

Book Description

This is the only comprehensive volume of Robert Frost's published verse; in it are the contents of all eleven of his individual books of poetry-from A Boy's Will (1913) to In the Clearing (1962). The editor, Edward Connery Lathem, has scrupulously annotated the more than 350 poems in this book.

Customer Reviews:

Robert Frost, the poet for poetry lovers.......2007-04-12

I have read Robert Frost's poetry for years. There's nothing better than being curled up on the sofa on a cold afternoon drinking hot cocoa, and browsing through a Robert Frost poem book to warm your heart. For years I had been looking for a complete collection of Robert Frost's poems. I'm glad I found it a Amazon.

Frost's treasure.......2006-08-24

Robert Frost has a world-wide admiration. And in this book, you can find all his poems grouped neatly in sections connecting them to the place they are written in. So to put it in a nut shell, it is just what you are looking for if you want to buy something you won't regret.

North Country Simple?.......2006-07-13

Frost's poetry is like the essence of New England's North Country-it's sparseness, praticality, absence of frills, fall color, winter bleakness but strong, independent confidence. Yet in both the North Country and in Frost's poetry there is an underlying complexity and an openness to unfettered interpretations. This book delivers Frost's work in a simple, straightforward manner. His poetry needs no fancy presentation but then neither does the North Country. Visit both, but especially Frost.

A warning-it may be best to read only one or two poems a day. The more time each is thought about, the more it grows in depth and thought complexity-or doesn't....

Trite and banal.......2006-05-03

I wonder how long it will be before Frost's literary stock is devalued as much as it deserves to be. These are trite and banal poems that do not ring true or sincere. Frost seems distant from both his poems and the reader. What he has to say is obvious and unoriginal. How he says it is on the level of a hallmark greeting card at its best; at its worst, it is no better than a limerick. Posthumous revelations about his horrific cruelty to others and his shrewd creation/manipulation of his celebrity image as the New England farmer-poet only confirm that there was something seriously wrong with this man and his poems that an earlier generation missed. How earlier generations could find genius in such obvious observations is astounding.
Bad poetry from a twisted man.

Good Collection.......2006-03-17

Really good collection. I was able to find an old pressing of a collection of his poems that has one extra book release in it, but otherwise they were identical. I don't need to say Robert Frost is a great writer.. This is a very good collection.

Love Poems from God: Twelve Sacred Voices from the East and West

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Inspiring, playful and filled with love.
My Favorite Spiritual Reading
Beauty Lives Inside This Book
Great Book
Translations in the true spirit of the originals

Love Poems from God: Twelve Sacred Voices from the East and West
Various
Manufacturer: Penguin (Non-Classics)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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The Gift
The Subject Tonight Is Love: Sixty Wild and Sweet Poems of Hafiz
I Heard God Laughing: Poems of Hope and Joy
Hafiz: The Scent of Light
The Soul of Rumi: A New Collection of Ecstatic Poems

ASIN: 0142196126

Book Description

In this transcendent collection, Daniel Ladinsky-best known for his gifted and best-selling translations of the great Sufi poet Hafiz-brings together the timeless work of twelve of the world's finest spiritual writers, six from the East and six from the West. Once again Ladinsky reveals his talent for creating inspiring, profound, and playful versions of classic poems for a modern audience. Rumi's joyous, ecstatic love poems; St. Francis's loving observations of nature through the eyes of Catholicism; Kabir's wild, freeing humor that synthesizes Hindu, Muslim, and Christian beliefs; St. Teresa's sensual verse; and the mystical, healing words of Hafiz-these and other spiritual writers considered to be "conduits of the divine" make up this rich and luminous collection of "love poems from God."

Customer Reviews:

Inspiring, playful and filled with love........2007-05-25

Daniel Ladinsky's style of translating focuses on the simplicity or essence of the poem. These essential reflections bounce outward like a little child dancing in the rain. I found these poems from various spiritual traditions inspiring me in my own Christian faith as well as my own use of words. The writer of Proverbs warns about the danger of too many words, and maybe these poems remind us of the value in speaking less and allowing the mystery of divine love to hide behind our words.

My Favorite Spiritual Reading.......2007-04-06

This is by far my favorite spiritual book - the one I would take with me to a desert island. The brief biographies of the various authors are interesting and inspiring, but often when I really want to feel "connected" and more spiritual, I just flip to any open page and read a selection. This was my first introduction to many of the individuals and I am now following up on the individual works of my favorites. I would definitely recommend this book as there is something for everyone.

Beauty Lives Inside This Book.......2007-01-06

There's nothing I could add to Rebecca Johnson's wonderful review below. I would however like to comment on the review by M. J. Smith (Seattle, WA USA) which gave this volume one star.

His argument that Daniel Ladinsky has done a disservice to readers by tailoring the translations is flawed. A literal translation is of value to scholors and historians, but not seekers of the heart. For those who are seeking god in ernest, you can trust Mr. Ladinksy to deliver the very soul of the poet he's translating to the front door of your heart. Would Hafiz trust Rumi to translate his works, would St. Francis trust Meister Eckhart to translate his? Yes, and there are people living today who have this same authority...Daniel Ladinsky is one of those people.

Let the worriers worry about hair-splitting and direct translations...and let the lovers revel in these beautiful illumined poems.

Great Book.......2006-09-02

This is an excellent collection of religious poetry from all genre of religious belief. It has been an oasis of peace in this crazy world.

Translations in the true spirit of the originals.......2006-08-28

This is the most spiritually uplifting and joyous collection of poems I have ever read.

In response to the people who criticise Ladinsky for not producing true translations of the originals, I'd like to suggest that he's actually produced more faithful translations than other more academically inclined translators of these poets by focusing on retaining the intent and emotional integrity of the originals rather than just their words and structures.

One of the big difficulties in translation is that the same things and concepts can have entirely different connotations for readers in different cultural, linguistic and temporal settings. In poetry, more than any other form of writing, meaning and emotional content often hinge on these connotations. Therefore, retaining references to the same things and concepts in translation might produce a poem that's 'academically' correct but entirely unlike the original in terms of the way it's received by its new audience.

In the case of Hafiz, for example, the way 14th-century Persians interpreted the things that made up their world must have been radically different from how we as 21st-century Westerners would interpret these same things -- we're talking a divide of centuries, different cultures, different climates, different geographies, different religions, different ways of thinking, etc. etc.

If Ladinsky was focused on retaining the intent and emotional integrity of the originals, therefore, he no doubt would have had to replace many of the original concepts and images with ones that are meaningful to 21st-century Westerners. The idea of a fish needing professional help, therefore, isn't at all out of place in the translation if it is in the same spirit and has the same connotations as the original.

While Ladinsky's approach to translation might not be approved of in academic circles, to my mind it is the only way to retain the integrity of the originals. It has also made these poems, and their messages of divine joy, accessible to a much larger Western audience.

A Coney Island of the Mind: Poems (New Directions Paperback No. 74)

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Thank You, Mr. Ferlinghetti
A distant man with a personal message
A Coney Island of the Mind
This book changed my life
a circus of the soul

A Coney Island of the Mind: Poems (New Directions Paperback No. 74)
Lawrence Ferlinghetti
Manufacturer: New Directions Publishing Corporation
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0811200418

Customer Reviews:

Thank You, Mr. Ferlinghetti.......2006-03-31

I first read Lawrence Ferlinghetti's poem, "Constantly Risking Absurdity" when I was 26 years young. I am now 41 and I still read that poem to remind me that even though my body may be taking on the appearances of getting older, my mind, my spirit, and my soul are just as young as ever.

I believe we grow old not because of time, but what we do or don't do with our time. We let our beliefs become rigid, we let our attitudes harden, we forget what it was like to be flexible and youthful and optimistic about life.

This book opens the mind. It expands the heart. It flows through the soul like honey and lets the "imprisoned splendor" escape through the cracks of the entire psyche. I would suggest reading this book by candlelight with maybe some Lee Morgan or John Coltrane in the background.

It's a book of prayers written by a Beat Priest and every day I thank God that I came across that poem I mentioned earlier in this review it changed my life in a million ways known as well as unknown.

If you are looking for something to bring you to a place of youthful vigor, give this book a try. Remember it's never to late to have a great life.

Peace & Blessings

A distant man with a personal message.......2006-03-21

Ferlinghetti is strange in that he considers himself a man of the people, yet works in a field in which the common man wouldn't normally participate. He writes so that academics won't like him, and fans of bukowski or ginsberg won't necessarily like him. The only poet REMOTELY like him could possibly be Bob Hicok.

Ferlinghetti developed his own style of poetry that's (to paraphrase) not constrained by the limits of the poetic line. It's all over the place, in form and in content. This is his seminal work, and the modern version even contains the best from his previous: Pictures of the Gone World.

He has a sensibility for the turn of a phrase, as we see with "The poet's eye obscenely seeing" and "cast up / the heart flops over / gasping 'Love'. He is in tune with the alienation of the modern age, and although he's far from a "people person", his quiet insights have proven inspiring and invaluable.

His next-best work is probably "starting from san francisco", which contains my favorite poem, "overpopulation" (an oft-overlooked, but great piece of poetry to read aloud). This one, however, is a must-read if you're into a populist aesthetic for poetry. If you like poetry that you can read on fifteen different levels, and isn't really saying anything, this is NOT the book for you.

A Coney Island of the Mind.......2006-01-30

I first read this book of poems by Lawrence Ferlinghetti while in college in the early 1960's, and Ferlinghetti immediately became my favorite beat poet. "Johnny Nolan has a patch on his ass. Kids chase him..." and "Christ climbed down from his bare tree this year..." have remained in my memory all these years. I am so pleased to own this small book again and will take care to keep it safe this time.

This book changed my life.......2005-10-27

I'm very serious about the title of my review: "This book changed my life." It did. My father gave me a copy when I was sixteen (32 now) and from that point I've been an *avid* Ferlinghetti fan. His poems delicately point out the subtle joys, heartaches, and beauty which can be easily overlooked every day.

I cannot recommend this book any more highly. Buy this right now. Buy a few copies and give them to friends and family. I certainly have.

a circus of the soul.......2005-04-04

I first read Coney Island when I was in high school, when I fancied myself a poet. Ferlinghetti's work in this slim volume is much simpler and much more accessible than that of his contemporaries, especially Ginsberg. Part I of the collection, titled "A Coney Island of the Mind," is more deliberate in its stylings and in a slight need of an editor, but expressive nonetheless. The real power of this collection is with Part II, spoken word poetry that Ferlinghetti had performed with a jazz accompanyment. His natural style becomes fluid, moving effortlessly across the page in deep rhythms that bring you directly to the moment of vision.

Inventions of the March Hare: T s Eliot Poems 1900-1917

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Inventions of the March Hare: T s Eliot Poems 1900-1917
T. S. Eliot , and Christopher Ricks
Manufacturer: Faber & Faber Ltd
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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The Waste Land (Norton Critical Editions)
A Guide to the Selected Poems of T. S. Eliot

ASIN: 0571178952

A Working Girl Can't Win : And Other Poems

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Check these out
you're kidding me, right?
underbaked and flat
Fun, Make-You-Think Reading
Chick-lit poetry

A Working Girl Can't Win : And Other Poems
Deborah Garrison
Manufacturer: Modern Library
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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The Second Child: Poems
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ASIN: 0375755403
Release Date: 2000-02-22

Amazon.com

Every couple of years, some unlucky soul gets designated as the Poet for People Who Hate Poetry, and now it seems to be Deborah Garrison's turn. It's easy to see why: she gets the voice of the late 20th-century New Yorker to perfection, in all its kvetchy, melancholic glory. At times it's like hearing George Costanza channeling Emily Dickinson:

I'm never going to sleep
with Martin Amis
or anyone famous.

Garrison also tends to sidestep metaphysics in favor of more accessible subject matter. That means love (mostly unrequited) and work (mostly unbearable, particularly for a working girl in a testosterone-driven office, wearied by the appearance of yet "another alpha male-- / a man's man, a dealmaker"). No wonder Garrison seems so appealing. And no wonder her publisher has capitalized on this appeal by packaging her book in such a sleek, chic jacket. It would be a mistake, however, to write her off as one more neurotic light versifier. Her metaphoric agility can take you by surprise: note the Atlantic breeze coming "up out of the surf / like a dog gone swimming, / slagging sand and spray every which way / and making the news unreadable." So, too, can the note of resignation that undergirds so many of Garrison's vignettes-in-verse, giving even her most featherweight performances an odd, unchic intensity.

Book Description

Deborah Garrison, whose work as an editor and writer has enlivened the pages of The New Yorker for more than a decade, evokes the characters and events of her everyday life with intense feeling and, more important, conjures up the universal dilemmas and pleasures of a young woman trying to come to terms with love and work.

Customer Reviews:

Check these out.......2007-04-15

This is very good poetry: insightful, articulate, and very witty. Garrison is quite deft with the English language and doesn't litter her writing with clever, irrelevant tricks. She keeps her work focused and to the point. She has the snap and sting of Michael Benedikt.

you're kidding me, right?.......2004-07-29

That this book got any attention still blows me away. What a boring bunch of poems that read like a nightmarish open reading. If this is poetry that can actually get into the popular vein, I'm gonna lock myself in the library and not talk to anyone.

underbaked and flat.......2004-02-24

Great idea for a collection--poems from the point of view of a female office worker. But there's not much empathy, not much risk, not much music, not much wit, not much anything here. These are above all intellectually and linguistically lazy poems which aim for irony but seldom get beyond archness. No perceptions you couldn't find in the pages of a woman's magazine or on a TV-show about working women--and not even as entertaining as any number of chick lit novels.

Fun, Make-You-Think Reading.......2003-12-02

I picked this book off the shelf by chance. My good luck.

Deborah Garrison's little book of poetry is a treasure. It's funky, funny, wonderful reading. This collection will impress any lover of poetry, whether you just started reading yesterday or you've been a fan for years.

Her writing is accessible. Her writing is real; while she wants to be a "modern" woman, all unoppressed and girl power-ish, she is still a human. And she let's you know that up front. One of the best things about it is that you don't have to break out a dictionary to understand it. And it doesn't take days worth of analyzation to get through a few lines either. Buy it!

Chick-lit poetry.......2003-07-15

It's Bridget Jones country, which I don't think is such a terrible thing. And it's easy to read, which I don't think is such a terrible thing. The poems tell of the men in the poetess's life, from her mother's lovers to her boss, the other men at her job, and her husband. It's in the colloquial style of the English Movement, with something of the American Confessional. Sometimes (at least in the Fight Song) it even scans and rhymes.
The five stars are not because it's GREAT poetry, but because it's enjoyable, true-to-life and readable...

Phenomenal Woman: Four Poems Celebrating Women

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a jewel
Be Your Own Woman!!
Uplifting Book for Women
Great as a gift or for yourself
The soothing sounds of Maya

Phenomenal Woman: Four Poems Celebrating Women
Maya Angelou
Manufacturer: Random House
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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The Complete Collected Poems of Maya Angelou
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Wouldn't Take Nothing for My Journey Now
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And Still I Rise

ASIN: 0679439242
Release Date: 1995-01-17

Book Description

Maya Angelou, the bestselling author of On the Pulse of Morning, Wouldn't Take Nothing for My Journey Now, and other lavishly praised works, is considered one of America's finest poets. Here, four of her most highly acclaimed poems are assembled in a beautiful gift edition that provides a feast for the eyes as well as the heart. (Poetry)

Customer Reviews:

a jewel.......2007-06-17

Maya angelou is a jewel. Her poems rich deep inside your spirit. My daughter really enjoys these tapes.

Be Your Own Woman!!.......2006-02-17

Whether you are tall, thin, heavy, young, old, beautiful, ugly; we are all our own phenomenal woman!!!! Each of us has our own power within ourselves to shine and be our own wonderful person. Maya Angelou's own life, reaches within and brings us to this point with her words.

Uplifting Book for Women.......2005-08-22

I heard Oprah recite the title poem at her workshop and had to have it. It is a great little book and would make a nice gift for a 'phenomenal woman'

Great as a gift or for yourself.......2004-11-03

What a wonderful collection of poems celebrating women. This book of four very soulful, strong, empowering poems has quickly become a favorite. I would recommend this book as a gift for any woman. Or better yet, buy it for yourself - you won't regret it!

The soothing sounds of Maya.......2001-11-06

I just wanted to let Miss Angelou know that I really enjoy her books, all of them. But Phenomenal Woman is very important poem to me because it describes what my mother and grandmother are to me and my family and hopeflly one day I will learn to be a phenomenal woman.

Average customer rating:

Awesome Collection
Yeats, one of the greatest
Great poet, great work, amazing compilation!
magnificent poems on cheap paper
Hauntingingly beautiful, ageless poetry!

The Collected Poems of W.B. Yeats
William Butler Yeats
Manufacturer: Scribner
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0684807319

Amazon.com

William Butler Yeats, whom many consider this century's greatest poet, began as a bard of the Celtic Twilight, reviving legends and Rosicrucian symbols. By the early 1900s, however, he was moving away from plush romanticism, his verse morphing from the incantatory rhythms of "I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree" into lyrics "as cold and passionate as the dawn." At every stage, however, Yeats plays a multiplicity of poetic roles. There is the romantic lover of "When You Are Old" and "A Poet to His Beloved" ("I bring you with reverent Hands / The books of my numberless dreams..."). And there are the far more bitter celebrations of Maud Gonne, who never accepted his love and engaged in too much politicking for his taste: "Why should I blame her that she filled my days / With misery, or that she would of late / Have taught to ignorant men most violent ways, / Or hurled the little streets upon the great, / Had they but courage equal to desire?" There is also the poet of conscience--and confrontation. His 1931 "Remorse for Intemperate Speech" ends: "Out of Ireland have we come. / Great hatred, little room, / Maimed us at the start. / I carried from my mother's womb / A fanatic heart."

Yeats was to explore several more sides of himself, and of Ireland, before his Last Poems of 1938-39. Many are difficult, some snobbish, others occult and spiritualist. As Brendan Kennelly writes, Yeats "produces both poppycock and sublimity in verse, sometimes closely together." On the other hand, many prophetic masterworks are poppycock-free--for example, "The Second Coming" ("Turning and turning in the widening gyre / The falcon cannot hear the falconer; / Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold; / Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world...") and such inquiries into inspiration as "Among School Children" ("O body swayed to music, O brightening glance, How can we know the dancer from the dance?"). And at his best, Yeats extends the meaning of love poetry beyond the obviously romantic: love becomes a revolutionary emotion, attaching the poet to friends, history, and the passionate life of the mind. --Kerry Fried

Book Description

The Collected Poems of W. B. Yeats includes all of the poems authorized by Yeats for inclusion in his standard canon. Breathtaking in range, it encompasses the entire arc of his career, from luminous reworkings of ancient Irish myths and legends to passionate meditations on the demands and rewards of youth and old age, from exquisite, occasionally whimsical songs of love, nature, and art to somber and angry poems of life in a nation torn by war and uprising. In observing the development of rich and recurring images and themes over the course of his body of work, we can trace the quest of this century's greatest poet to unite intellect and artistry in a single magnificent vision.

Revised and corrected, this edition includes Yeats's own notes on his poetry, complemented by explanatory notes from esteemed Yeats scholar Richard J. Finneran. The Collected Poems of W. B. Yeats is the most comprehensive edition of one of the world's most beloved poets available in paperback.

Customer Reviews:

Awesome Collection.......2006-07-10

This book contains all of Yeat's published poetry and I believe alot of his dramatic writings. Yeat's has to be one of the best english poets of all time. I put him up next to Shakespeare. His poems are full of mystery, and alot of romance and polotics. It's really great stuff.

Yeats, one of the greatest.......2006-05-21

The short space that is offered here for reviews is nowhere near sufficient to review the life's works of one of Ireland's and the world's greatest poets. However I must at least try to describe the beauty that is the poetry of William Butler Yeats.

Perhaps Yeats is at his finest when reflecting on love, usually unrequited. Yeats manages to produce love poems that have a genuine passion that is surprisingly rare in poetry, specifically that of the modern day. Perhaps Yeats is representative of a type of romanticism that is moribund in modern literature, this is surely a tragic shame.

However Yeats' examination of the human condition is not restricted to the romantic. In 'What Then?', Yeats examines the frantic and vain human search for an ultimate meaning or significance. He manages this in a far more poetic and succinct way than many poets who have gone before him. In 'A Man Young and Old', Yeats runs us through the gamut of human experience in a wonderous,yet harrowing manner.

These are but a handful of examples of this beautiful poetry that demands to be read by any lover of literature.

Great poet, great work, amazing compilation!.......2005-11-15

A great compilation of Yeats works, while other compilations have excellent notes and essays regarding his works this one has many of his poems (and series of poems) all in one book. An outstanding book to own, beautifully compiled in this soft cover book (which has surprisingly held up quite well against years of battering as I carry it with me from time to time).

magnificent poems on cheap paper.......2005-10-24

I trust it goes without saying that William Butler Yeats is one of the greatest English-language poets of all time. This volume contains his entire body of verse, and is a magnificent treasure trove that will delight and stun the reader for decades.

I give two stars to the cheap materials used to create this masterpiece. I literally had this book out of the Amazon box for a matter of hours before the cover started to curl of its own accord, as though possessed by a poetry-hating demon. The paper is low-grade and coarse, with an unappealing brownish tinge.

Despite my love of Yeats, I find that I unconsciously tend to keep this book on the shelf just to keep its ugliness out of site, and I am by no means an aesthete. If you can find a slightly nicer version, it is worth paying a little extra.

Hauntingingly beautiful, ageless poetry!.......2005-09-12

I had never taken the time to enjoy Yeats' poetry before although I had read single poems on occasion. It is an experience not to be missed to sit and read his better-known poetry all in one sitting. The beauty of the words and imagery is then much more apparent. Yeats writes a lot about mysticism and the occult, and ancient Ireland comes alive as you read his beautiful words. I read that Yeats, although he wrote poetry all his life, would only put down three or four lines per day. He was such a perfectionist that he wanted to make sure that his lines were perfect. It seems such a tedious procss, but what beautiful words he wrote! His time could not have been better spent than in creating three beautiful and perfect lines per day. His poetry changed as he aged, but it kept getting better and better. His earlier poetry portrayed a lot about faeries and the dream world the he lived in himself when he was young. The lyrics were tuneful and romantic. As he aged, the romanticism changed considerably and his poems were harder-driven with very deep messages underneath the words. These are truly masterpieces, and Yeats comes by his reputation as one of the greatest English writing poets of all time.

Poetry Matters: Writing a Poem from the Inside Out

Average customer rating:

Great for older kids and adults
A book for beginners
This is a Great Book for learning how to write poetry!
Well Done

Poetry Matters: Writing a Poem from the Inside Out
Ralph Fletcher
Manufacturer: HarperTrophy
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0380797038
Release Date: 2002-02-19

Book Description

Maybe you've heard before that poetry is magic, and it made you roll your eyes, but I believe it's true. Poetry matters. At the most important moments, when everyone else is silent, poetry rises to speak.

I wrote this book to help you write poems and to give practical ideas for making your poems sound the way you want them to sound. We're not going to smash poems up into the tiniest pieces. This book is about writing poetry, not analyzing it. I want this book to help you have more wonderful. moments in the poetry you write. I want you to feel the power of poetry. it's my hope that through this book you will discover lots of ways to make your poems shine, sing, soar...

-- Ralph Fletcher

Customer Reviews:

Great for older kids and adults.......2005-10-10

I really enjoyed the details in this book about from where poetry stems. I loved the idea of just watching the wolrd around you and seeing if a poem somes to you. It does! My only concern is the book uses language that would be too difficult for the average 5th-6th grader to understand. I like that poems from kids are included, but this book seems more appropriate for a teacher to reach and intergrate into his/her curriculum.

A book for beginners.......2005-09-29

Here's what I didn't like: the personal approach to poetry writting, using as examples personal anecdotes at the beginning of some chapters; the use of bad poems written by students instead of poems written by great poets; the superficial approach to poetry writting.
This is a book suitable for the very beginners. It wont satisfy poetry readers as well as poets.
Sorry... that's what I think!

This is a Great Book for learning how to write poetry!.......2004-06-20

Hi, I really enjoyed reading Ralph Fletcher's book "Poetry Matters: Writing a Poem from the inside out." He gives lots of good examples. He has interviews with two other poets in the book for ideas on poetry. He makes poetry interesting and fun to learn! I also enjoyed his poetry!

Well Done.......2004-04-02

If you feel like you are a real poet within, this book will help you get it out. One word of caution, everyone thinks he or she is a poet. Yes, everyone is a bad poet and every once in a great while a great poet will emerge.

Average customer rating:

This guy blows me out of the water
poetry that is food for the soul......
An American Poet
Langston Hughes defies categories
Great book

The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes
Langston Hughes
Manufacturer: Vintage
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0679764089
Release Date: 1995-10-31

Book Description

"The ultimate book for both the dabbler and serious scholar--. [Hughes] is sumptuous and sharp, playful and sparse, grounded in an earthy music--. This book is a glorious revelation."--Boston Globe

Spanning five decades and comprising 868 poems (nearly 300 of which have never before appeared in book form), this magnificent volume is the definitive sampling of a writer who has been called the poet laureate of African America--and perhaps our greatest popular poet since Walt Whitman. Here, for the first time, are all the poems that Langston Hughes published during his lifetime, arranged in the general order in which he wrote them and annotated by Arnold Rampersad and David Roessel.

Alongside such famous works as "The Negro Speaks of Rivers" and Montage of a Dream Deferred, The Collected Poems includes the author's lesser-known verse for children; topical poems distributed through the Associated Negro Press; and poems such as "Goodbye Christ" that were once suppressed. Lyrical and pungent, passionate and polemical, the result is a treasure of a book, the essential collection of a poet whose words have entered our common language.

Customer Reviews:

This guy blows me out of the water.......2007-06-18

I prefer his earlier stuff but there are poems in this book that make the entire thing worth it. Nude Young Dancer, Minstrel Song and countless others made me want to weep and smile. What can I say, I felt this guys pain...

poetry that is food for the soul.............2007-05-04

If you haven't heard of Langston Hughes, I suggest that you purchase this, THE COLLECTED POEMS OF LANGSTON HUGHES, as an introduction to his style. Hughes was part of the definitive Harlem Renaissance Movement of the 1920s through the late 1940s, that was a very important period of time for African-Americans in the United States. For the first time, their voices were really being heard [and recognized] in the genres of music, writing, and sculpture, in this country.

This book is an amazing collection of five decades of his most powerful, intelligent and sensitive works. The poems start in 1921 through 1967. There are also several poems, written for children, that I didn't even realize Langston had penned! So beautiful and unexpected. What's more, one of his most well-known poems is featured, here, "What Happens to a Dream Deferred." Langston Hughes' views of race, society and social issues are truly timeless and compelling. For me, reading his works is like listening to a quiet, constant patter of rain on the rooftop, gradually growing with intensity, until the raindrops start flowing like teardrops from the great sky. That is how Hughes uses language. Essentially, he derives his beautiful rhythmic poetic language from an infinite river of words, he then pours them over on another and tells stories. This is truly the book to add to your poetry collection.

An American Poet.......2007-01-17

I picked this up the other day because I had money to burn on a gift card and I was curious. I have always loved his (most anthologized) poem, "Harlem", otherwise referred to as "A Dream Deferred". In his writing, he clearly expresses the sturggles of African Americans in the first half of the Twentieth Century in America. He reminds us of the many valuable contributions of African Americans to our society and culture. He reminds us of veterans who fought for freedoms that would never be extended to them. He writes of a noble and courageous people.

There may be a smattering of bitterness here and there, but his primary message seems to be peace and love of humankind. Equally powerful as his message, is the poetry itself. It gives the illusion of simplicity and begs to be read aloud. Some of it is breathtaking, none of it is boring or insignificant. If you like poetry at all, Hughes is extremely accessible most of the time. His words will help restore one's faith in humanity. This book demonstrates the importance and relevance of poetry in its ability to communicate matters of the heart and soul. This may be the best book of poetry I own I have found it to be highly inspiraitonal. Just get this book, okay?

Langston Hughes defies categories.......2006-07-29

These collected poems of Langston Hughes paint a full-bodied portrait of that amazing artist. From his simple, blues-inspired, folk refrains to his epic poems on African, American, and African-American identity, Hughes defies simple categorization.

This book is required reading for anyone who loves America, hip-hop or poetry. Because it's so readable, you can keep going back time and time again.

Great book.......2006-07-06

This was a great book. It's really in-depth, and you can see the changes in his work over time. The book is oranized by decades, and he wrote quality work in each decade.

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