Product Description
One of the great playwrights of his age, second only to Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe was also a secret agent as well as the central figure in a murder mystery. Now, Park Honan offers the most thoroughly researched and detailed biography of Marlowe to appear in over fifty years.
Honan, the acclaimed biographer of Shakespeare, takes us from Marlowe's childhood in Canterbury to his mysterious death in Deptford, shedding much light on this shadowy individual. The book features new information on Marlowe's six-and-a-half years at Cambridge, his shocking blasphemy and his street fights, his methods of preparing himself for writing, and his alleged atheism. The book includes new facts about Marlowe's adventures on the continent, where he was caught with a counterfeit coin, a hanging offense, but talked his way out of the noose and was returned to England in irons. In addition, there is a more exact account of the circumstances that led to his murder, and a fresh description of his evolving relationship with Shakespeare.
Researched in archives in England, Europe, and the United States, this superb biography paints an unforgettable portrait of one of the most remarkable figures in English literature.

"No stone is left unturned.... Mr. Honan offers an almost hour-by-hour account of Marlowe's final day, an intriguing theory about the killer's motives and an inquiry into the fatal wound worthy of 'CSI.'"
--William Grimes, New York Times

"A sumptuously detailed picture of Marlowe's world.... The rich, complex vision of Elizabethan life that 'Christopher Marlowe' supplies can make his poetic gift for cutting to the passionate core of that life seem even more astonishing."
--Michael Feingold, The New York Times Book Review ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

Good research but not too engaging
I give the book high marks for the research that apparently went into the book. There were a number of references cited in the book that were new to me. Maybe that was enough to earn it 4 stars, but like another reviewer I found the presentation to be a bit disjointed and uneven.

Mr. Honan previously wrote a biography on Shakespeare, so it appears he was careful to avoid discrediting Stratfordian doctrine, or contradicitng what was prevously written, which may account for some of the inconsistency. I feel the book would have been much more effective if the focus remained on Marlowe, and had not attempted to explore a possible relationship between the two men.

Involved, heavily researched and meticulously presented true-life story.
Park Honan (Emeritus Professor at the School of English, University of Leeds) presents Christopher Marlowe: Poet & Spy, an in-depth biography of the famous literary figure. Chapters cover Marlowe's childhood, his street fighting, his alleged atheism, a thorough examination of the circumstances that led to Marlowe's murder, and much more. A handful of black-and-white illustrations intersperse this involved, heavily researched and meticulously presented true-life story. Also highly recommended are Honan's previous biographies, most notably the acclaimed "Shakespeare, A Life".

A Muse For The Royals.
'The Tragic History of the Life and Death of Dr. Faustus' was perhaps Christopher Marlowe's masterpiece.The hero endeavors to save his soul and trick the devil; his devil, Methostophilis, was no match for Faust who had been tormented with 10,000 hells -- after he had seen "the face of God and tasted the eternal joys of heaven."If we find succor in hate, "neglect reconciliation," 'we shall always carry hell about with us.'Faust had boasted that "a sound magician is a mighty god."

Marlowe was no atheist as believed during his short life, but he did believe in Merlin's magic.His patron, Tom Walsingham, was a former spy who dabbled with magical spirits, (not alcohol, though he did have a brewery.'Dido (Queen of Carthage)' was the play in which Dido's love is like Petrarch's, which Marlowe is said to have inherited.It is limitless; Marlowe portrays the intensity of her desires and playfulness,In his poetic treatise, she expressed herself with "a valid new logic" as she extolls the virtues of the winds and the seas.Marlowe, nicknamed Kit Marloe at Cambridge, was not a romantic, but a "questing realist."Personally, he was excitable, vulnerable and inconsistent.

'Tamburlaine' was written in blank verse using Marlowe's 'pathos' and much hyperbole.His views on history, society and social violence began to evolve as he showed the feelings, attitudes, motivation and behavior of humans from a religious aspect.He evokes four or five different religions in this play.In it, his hero was compared to Christ."In dramatizing faith, desire, and our other attributes in their ambiguity, Marlowe belongs to us."For six months in 1594, the year after he was murdered, revivals of these two parts were played out before audiences as large as two thousand.Every foreign locale in his plays had a relation to England.

He had just completed 'Hero and Leander' in 1593 before he was arrested as a spy and met his untimely death.He had portrayed the "gap between his well-disciplined life of art and thought and the loose and easy exuberance of his talk."His mentor was partial to speaking Latin, which he called 'the music of the spheres.'Born in February, 1564, he was only twenty-nine when he died in May, 1593.His memory lingers on.

Uneven & frustrating
This book seems to have been written mainly for an audience of professional Marlowe scholars. General readers will find it frustrating and confusing. His writing often wanders all over the place. For example, in reference to Marlowe's activities as spy, Honan writes, "He involved himself in some duplicity, if not in faithlessness and treachery, with regard to fellow scholars at Cambridge" (109), suggesting that Marlowe may have betrayed some of his fellow students with Catholic sympathies. But the point is frustratingly dropped until some 44 pages later, when Honan observes that "we cannot be certain that he betrayed Corpus [i.e. Cambridge University] men, or lured them as a provocateur" (153), seemingly contradicting his earlier point. Because his writing tends to wander, the story of Marlowe's life is hard to follow in Honan's account. Important contexts, such as espionage under Queen Elizabeth, and patronage, are not well-explained. Honan assumes that readers already have a detailed knowledge of these subjects.

An account like this necessarily involves substantial speculation, since the documentary evidence is quite spotty. Readers need to know exactly what the historical evidence is, and where speculation begins. Honan's discussion of the documentary evidence is quite uneven. In some places he gives a detailed account, but in many other places, he simply leaves this essential information out. As a result, the reader is often wondering about the historical basis for Honan's account. He often fails to distinguish fact from speculation.

One useful feature is an appendix which reproduces some important historical documents including the so-called Baines libel and coroner's inquest of Marlowe's death.

PoeticLicense on Kit
A book best for people with some prior understanding of Marlowe's works and the era in which he lived. In regard to the spying done, most casual readers will be lost in the confusing cross currents of British politics, heavily influenced by religious factors, of the late 1500s. And the fact is much of Marlowe's life is lost to documented history. In a pleasing style, Professor Park Honan fills the lacunae with his informed guesses and conjectures. ... Read more

Product Description
Russian poets have always been admired for the lyric and emotional intensity with which they forge private and public experience into verse, and this volume gathers together some of the best-loved, and most powerful and immediate poems from the greatest Russian poets of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Here is the work of Alexander Pushkin, Mikhail Lermontov, Alexander Blok, Andrei Bely, Vladimir Mayakovsky, Ivan Bunin, Osip Mandelstam, Anna Akhmatova, Marina Tsvetaeva, Boris Pasternak, and Joseph Brodsky, among many others.

Arranged by theme—love, mortality, art, and the enduring mystery of Mother Russia herself—and presented in the best available translations, these poems will serve as both an introduction to the mastery of Russian poetry and a wide-ranging selection to be returned to again and again. ... Read more

Product Description

A Divinity scholar at Wittenberg University, Horatio prides himself on his ability to argue both sides of any intellectual debate but is himself a skeptic, never fully believing in any philosophy. That is, until he meets the outrageous, provocative, and flamboyantly beautiful Prince of Denmark, who teaches him more about both Earth and Heaven than any of his books. But Hamlet is also irrationally haunted by intimations of a tragic destiny he believes is preordained.

Customer Reviews (12)

Engaging, sexy, and fun
A wonderful book with a compelling cast of characters, Lunatic is a treat for lovers of Shakespeare and a whole new way of looking at the play Hamlet as well as Shakespeare's famous sonnets. The prince of Denmark is a surprising, multilayered character, of great humor and intense melancholy; his best friend, Horatio, is by turns baffled and enchanted by the unpredictable young man; and the figure that brings them together, while somehow perfectly occupying the space between them, Arianna is a superb character, seductive and untrustworthy. Rich in wordplay and concrete details, this book is a must for any Shakespeare scholar on any level, and a sexy, brainy romp for the rest of us.

I LOVE THIS BOOK!
The Lunatic, the Lover and the Poet is a fine ramble through Shakespeare's time, but with a glint of today's views on gay, straight, and bi-partisan sex.It's college life for Hamlet and friends, students and faculty.The author turns me on to an adventure that has always been somewhat suffocated by iambic pentameter, and now is liberated by modern prose.And all the lacing of dialogue with innuendo and hidden meanings let's me feel I'm in on all the plot twists.I can't wait for the play and movie!

Fun time for both the expert and novice Shakespeare fan
Myrlin A. Hermes' THE LUNATIC, THE LOVER, AND THE POET is a novel twist on William Shakespeare's HAMLET and his many sonnets, written on Shakespeare's mysterious "Dark Lady" and an androgynous young man. With deft prose and a wildly entertaining storyline, Hermes definitely manages to take much of what I knew about the Bard and turn it "topsy-turvy," just as the cover boasts.

I've read reviews stating at least a working knowledge of HAMLET is required to enjoy the novel. I can certainly understand where those readers are coming from, but I actually didn't find my lack of knowledge to be a disadvantage. I knew little of Hamlet beyond the famous "to be or not to be" spiel -- and still found plenty to love in the novel. At several points, it became obvious that inside jokes and references to the original work were carefully woven into many pages -- though I couldn't fully appreciate them without being more comfortable with the original story.

Still, I can say honestly that once I sunk into THE LUNATIC, THE LOVER, AND THE POET, it was difficult to put down. I'll contribute my obsession with the story to Horatio's devotion to Prince Hamlet; my interest was really piqued right around that point, too. The way that Hamlet is described makes it difficult to not fall a little in love with him, too, even with all his preening, selfishness and narcissism. And for all the gloom and seriousness embodied in Horatio's character, Hermes' writing was surprisingly light, fun and artful.

In fact, the writing was what I loved most about the story. Hermes finds a way to blend Shakespearean-like prose with modern terms in a way that's shockingly not jarring -- and actually made the tale feel more "modern," though of course it's set in Shakespeare's day. For all his faults and silliness, I found myself oddly endeared to Horatio, the prince and Lady Adriane, even when I wanted to clock each of them on the side of the head for their foolish decisions.

Hermes captures feelings of uncertainty, joy, selfishness, obsession and jealousy with a truly creative and artful pen. Her novel is a treat for fans of historical fiction and, most especially, lovers of classic tales retold. Fans of HAMLET will definitely appreciate the book in a different way than the rest of us... but for everyone else? Still a rollicking good time.

If Rosencranz and Guildenstern Can Get Their Own Play...
... Why shouldn't Horatio become the main character in his own story?After all, hasn't that glory-hound, Hamlet, gotten enough attention?But, hush, this is no comedy!Horatio is a poor scholar at Wittenberg University, caught in a post-graduate limbo of study and teaching when several things change.He gets a commission to write a play from a Baron who has an intriguing dark lady of a wife, and he meets the beautiful Prince of Denmark, perpetual student and rebel who sweeps all into his circle, like moths to a flame, and he falls desperately in love.

Shakespearean quotes, misquotes, references and characters are choc-a-bloc and should delight Hamlet and Sonnet fans particularly.R & G even get fairly big roles.Hamlet remains larger than life, but there is a grounding in a kind of reality here that makes the reader feel they are not limited to a small enclosed stage.And it gives some real feeling to Horatio as a struggling poet, lover and man, conflicted and uncertain, genius and witting pawn.The meeting of Horatio and Hamlet is haunting, dreamlike and strange.It is worth reading for that and other things, although I was left at the end wondering if it were all just sound and fury.

Just didn't work for me
I started out reading this book with very high hopes. Not really being much of a scholar on Shakespeare, I still felt that I could enjoy this novel. Unfortunately for me that just wasn't the case.I just didn't get the story....but I did find myself liking Horatio. The others not so much. This may be a book for those that have read Shakespeare and loved it. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Very moving.
The book is out of print so you'll have to get it from a library.Was recently reviewed in the Washington Post, as one of the books to reconsider and appreciate.Eileen Simpson (married to John Berryman) chronicles her marriage as well as those of the poets of the 70s and 80s.The book is incredibly moving and the way in which Ms. Simpson tells her vignettes is matter of fact yet sympathetic.She talks about Berryman's suicidal bent, the womanizing ways of Ted Roethke, the manic depression of Robert Lowell, and various other chemical conditions and maladies that beset poets.The larger argument that emerges is whether such artists, absent such conditions, could have succeeded as poets.Based on the sample here, suffering is a prerequisite for writing poetry.

Eileen mentions some exceptions to the rule:William Carlos Williams, whose day job was practicing medicine.But those who didn't moonlight led a life of suffering, mainly because they were born wired and also because their main gig (writing poetry) required it.

Remarkably Warm and Illuminating
This is a terrific memoir, and very kind, of some of the most important literary figures in the second half of the last century. I was in college when I discovered Berryman via the Dream Songs, and only later read his earlier poems and more about his complicated life. Simpson writes feelingly of the sunny days and dark nights of this literary circle, and is sympathetic to them both as artists and people. I found her final benediction on Berryman at the end to be extremely touching.

She stood it as long as she could
Illuminating account of life with a manic alcohol abuser and his obsession with being America's "number one" poet. Eilene Simpson writes well and tells it all. ... Read more

Product Description
This volume offers an abundant and representative selection of theverse of Ben Jonson and the Cavalier poets.Jonson is represented by a wide selection from the Epigrams, includingthe mock epic "On the Famous Voyage"; The Forest, complete; extensiveselections from Underwood, including such well-known pieces as "ACelebration of Charis" and the Cary-Morison ode, together with the"Epithalamion" on the Weston-Stuart nuptials and "An Execration UponVulcan"; and more.

Also included is a copious selection from the works of Richard Corbett,Robert Herrick (eighty-two poems from Hesperides and fifteen from HisNoble Numbers), Thomas Carew, James Shirley, Mildmay Fane, ThomasRandolph, Edmund Waller, William Harbington, Sir John Suckling, SidneyGodolphin, William Cartwright, James Graham (Marquis of Montrose), SirJohn Denham, Richard Lovelace, Abraham Cowley, Henry Vaughan, andThomas Stanley.

The spelling and punctuation of the poems have been made consistentwith modern practice. These and other alterations are discussed in theTextual Notes. Footnotes serve primarily to gloss unfamiliar terms, toclarify syntax, and to explain allusions to mythological and historicalfigures and episodes.

Among the critics represented are Ben Jonson, Francis Beaumont, EdmundBolton, James Howell, Thomas Fuller, Edward Hyde, Samuel Butler, JohnDryden, Samuel Johnson, William Hazlitt, Algernon Charles Swinburne,Patrick Cruttwell, Joseph Summers, Earl Miner, Geoffrey Walton, G. A.E. Parfitt, L. A. Beaurline, Stephen Orgel, Ronald Berman, Bruce King,Hugh Richmond, Earl Wasserman, D. C. Allen, T. S. Eliot, and HughMaclean. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Authoritative, indeed!
This volume claims to have the authoritative texts of poems by Ben Jonson and his followers (including Richard Corbett, Robert Herrick, Thomas Carew, Thomas Randolph, and Edmund Waller, among others). This claim is certainly a fair one. Also incuded are wonderful, relevant critical essays, some of them modern, some written by Jonson and his contemporaries. The essays and the variety of poets give this edition a feeling of completness; it is very good to have one poet's work right next to the responses of other poets to said work.

The poetry itself, of course, is wonderful. During their lives, Jonson's work was thought to rival that of Shakespeare. These comparaisons are perhaps eaiser to understand when reading Jonson's still-easily-accessible poetry than when reading his plays.

This volume is essential to any reader of Jonson. ... Read more

Product Description
This is not your typical love story, simply because there is nothing typical about love. This erotic tale will twist all you know about a deeply connected romance. Meet Amber L. Smith, an accomplished psychologist, passionate writer of erotica and earth walking goddess. She was a caged bird that was never allowed to spread her colorful expressive wings. Meet Anthone "Graffiti" Bleu an ambitious entrepreneur, gifted poet and rugged biker boy. His dark past is deperately trying to block his bright future. They found one another deep in the gloom of each others darkest hour. They are soul mates with heavy burdens. Will the blinding light created by their boundless love be enough to shepherd them out of the darkness? Or will the fire of this rebellious romance die quickly like many others that started out by burning to intensely? This is more than a book. This is an open window into a world you know exists but rarely discuss. This is an open invitation to all who share the spirit of Muses. This is a front row seat for the voyeur inside you. This is undeniable passion and unmatched commitment. This is my life personified. Graffiti Bleu. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Synopsis of this book by the author himself.
This is not your typical love story, simply because there is nothing typical about love. This erotic tale will twist all you know about a deeply connected romance. Meet Amber L. Smith, an accomplished psychologist, passionate writer of erotica and earth walking goddess. She was a caged bird that was never allowed to spread her colorful expressive wings. Meet Anthone "Graffiti" Bleu an ambitious entrepreneur, gifted poet and rugged biker boy. His dark past is deperately trying to block his bright future. They found one another deep in the gloom of each others darkest hour. They are soul mates with heavy burdens. Will the blinding light created by their boundless love be enough to shepherd them out of the darkness? Or will the fire of this rebellious romance die quickly like many others that started out by burning to intensely? This is more than a book. This is an open window into a world you know exists but rarely discuss. This is an open invitation to all who share the spirit of Muses. This is a front row seat for the voyeur inside you. This is undeniable passion and unmatched commitment. This is my life personified.

-La Mont Anthony Wright
-AKA-Graffiti Bleu.
... Read more

Product Description
When I was a young boy I wanted to be a writer.After all, writers know everything! By the time I came home from the Marines at nineteen years old, I wanted to be a writer and a poet. The problem was I did not know anything. As I read and fell in love with words, I discovered that poems could be books in themselves. Now, at this age, I have just one novel published, but I have an abundance of poems to share with you. It takes me years to write a novel, but poems come into my mind every day. I like to look at a face, much like an artist does, and then sit down and write a poem for that face. So, there are poems in this collection that I could have written just for you. That''s why I call the book YOUR POET IS... ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

A treasure
If you've ever wondered whether love really exists, you must get this book.What Thomas says is true.You feel like these poems were written for you.I keep this book by my bedside and when my faith falters, I pick it up and read a few poems just to remind myself that somewhere out there is a man who can see right through to my soul.

Poetry for a wounded heart.
His poems and words heal a heart broken.The most wonderful collection of feelings and words.It is a book rich in spirit and soul and hope for tomorrow.Where is his next book?

A Beautiful Poetic Biography!
I read the latest book by Thomas T. Kemp this morning and knew again why he had become my favorite author.You asked how I can say this when I compiled and edited the book for him and was also fortunate to help him on his first book, The Road From Here to Where You Stay?Well, poetry has always been somewhat of a mystery to me.I read some and wonder what it means.I read others and each word speaks to me.

And so it was with Your-Poet IS: Poetry and You.No matter how many times I skimmed or read the poems by Thomas over the years, I was amazed and awed this morning to read them afresh, new-together in this book.That is just why Thomas is my favorite author and his book of poetry explains it clearly.

Thomas speaks directly to the readers.No matter who you are, you feel that he is sitting with you, speaking the words. No matter how many times you open this book, what you read will be fresh, new, waiting to "talk" to you.Kemp is a natural born storyteller.

As I had compiled the poetry, I worried about format, punctuation, and capitalization, misspelled words.How foolish I was to try to ensure consistency when life is not consistent and Thomas speaks of life...love!I realized that the final copy I had submitted to him had not been used-thank goodness!For it was stiff, consistent, and absolutely totally correct.

The galley presented to me; however, immediately began speaking to me...had I read this poem before?Why did it seem to speak to me differently?Ah...I see.Thomas has added the magic-the poetry of his words and now, finally, I understand.His changes brought forth meaning to the words, and in doing so, he made each an individual message for us to receive and embrace.

Thomas' poetry presents his love to the readers.He presents his words, his feelings...for all to see and receive and explore.All of his poetry is about love.He speaks of the first little girl that caught his attention when he was just five.But he also speaks of sitting alone, wanting to be loved as he feels his life passing away.Thomas is real and you are introduced to him and come to know him through his poetry.He does not hide in his sharing."Plastic Flowers" tells the pain of a woman in his life, perhaps his wife, as he leaves her waiting at home, waiting for him to come and enjoy dinner, perhaps bringing her a few flowers. "Golden and Seventeen" shares that his time in Vietnam was a time when innocence was lost...in many ways.In fact, there are several excerpts from his book that are those that first attracted me to his novel.Those supposedly written by Jewelko shows a sensitivity about a woman's feelings that perhaps you would never know or hear in a man, yet you see it in the words.

There is a spiritual awareness in many of his poems, mostly expressed through his words about the seasons."Summer Time" brings us the heat of the year, while "Slippery Snowy Sidewalks" brings a smile to our face as we picture a father with his young daughter, perhaps laughingly, pulling him along on "damn, slippery snowy sidewalks."

Your Poet IS: Poetry and You is not a book of poems.It is a biography in poetic form, a man's life, his love, his shame, his fears, his awareness.If you are interested in words that come together to present a life...this book is "must reading."Perhaps Thomas T. Kemp will become your favorite author as well.
... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A Favorite Book on Translation
Twelve distinguished and enthusiastic literary translators discuss the art of their craft.Edwin Honig managed to inspire entertaining and impassioned conversations on a variety of topics related to translation.The tone is informal, chatty, a bit playful, and filled with enthusiasm for the subject.The translators disagree on many issues, but each has his say--and provides it eloquently and with great clarity.Important issues of identity, equivalence, foreignization and domestication are discussed, but never named specifically.It's clear in every word that the translators and the author were having a great time discussing a topic dear to their hearts.It is a pleasure to read fine minds sparring, agreeing, resolving, and ultimately enjoying themselves and the words they produce.

The translators interviewed:Willard Trask; John Hollander; Herbert Mason; Ben Belitt; Richard Wilbur; Robert Fitzgerald; Max Hayward; Edmund Keeley; Octavio Paz; Michael Hamburger; and Christopher Middleton.

D. Bannon is the author of The Elements of Subtitles: A Practical Guide to the Art of Dialogue, Character, Context, Tone and Style in Subtitling

... Read more

Product Description
The Everyman's Library Pocket Poets hardcover series is popular for its compact size and reasonable price which does not compromise content. Poems: Whitman contains forty-two of the American master's poems, including "Crossing Brooklyn Ferry," "Song of Myself," "I Hear America Singing," "Halcyon Days," and an index of first lines. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Not a perfect selection, but very close and perfect for carrying
Any selection of a great poet is going to leave any fan of that poet disappointed.With Whitman this is complicated by the 1855 LEAVES OF GRASS with the 1891-92 LEAVES OF GRASS.Many prefer the 1855 version of "Song of Myself."This collection uses the 1891-92 versions of the poems.I will confess that I prefer the later versions in almost every instance.For instance, I much prefer the later version of the accounting of the John Paul Jones victory over the British in "Song of Myself" XXXV.

The poems that I particularly regretted not being included in this are "Song of the Open Road" and "When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer."There are others, but those are two I often read.But to be fair, most of Whitman's great work is contained in two poems, the magisterial "Song of Myself" and the passionate "Crossing Brooklyn Ferry."I've never warmed up to such old chestnuts as "I Hear America Singing" and "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd," but I can and have read "Song of Myself" and "Crossing Brooklyn Ferry" countless times.In fact, the reason I wanted a highly portable, but attractive edition of Whitman's poems was so that I could carry it about with me.One of the few books that I've come very close to wearing out (and I treat my books with great care) is the Library of America edition of Whitman's poetry and prose.But it simply doesn't fit into a messenger bag.This lovely little Everyman edition does.

So while this slender little volume doesn't quite have my ideal collection of Whitman's poems, it does at least have the most essential.And the book itself is lovely and inviting.I heartily recommend it to anyone desiring a choice selection of Whitman's poetry to carry with them either into the woods or onto a commuter train. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Excellent Resource
For those of the LDS persuasion, or those making their way through the Book of Mormon, Ludlow's book is an invaluable tool for understanding those most difficult Isaiah chapters.Several widely acceptable versions of the Bible have been used concurrently to help a student understand what is meant. I highly recommend it to anyone.It is also available in paperback form from Deseret Book Publishing Co. for about $17. ... Read more

Product Description
Eighty-one poets list and comment on books that were essential in their artistic development ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Its on my bookshelf!
If you read any poetry at all, this book is a must have! ... Read more

Product Description
The Everyman's Library Pocket Poets hardcover series is popular for its compact size and reasonable price which does not compromise content. Poems: Bronte contains poems that demonstrate a sensibility elemental in its force with an imaginative discipline and flexibility of the highest order. Also included are an Editor's Note and an index of first lines. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

When Nothing Else Will Do
Have you ever been at wits' end? Perhaps you believe in God but are shaking your fist at the sky and asking 'What are You thinking? How could you do this to me?' Then add for a bit more drama rejection, rejection and more rejection from those who don't understand one's unique artistic point of view. Last, add a dash of difficulty - yourself - you're not easy to deal with and bottomline the conventional is not your style. Then, you'll adore this book of poems by Emily Bronte. Most known for "Wuthering Heights" (which when repeatedly rejected by publishers - she would pack it up in the same wrapping and send it on again); some do not know what a great poet she was. Every facet of the human condition is explored in this little book - so readable, accessible, poignant and brilliant. For me, I never tire of reading it. And it's lovely to know that...she is still here.

Bronte is fantastic!
I dedicated one of the poems in my recently published book of poems to Emily Bronte, and did so after falling in love with her own poetry. What divine spark burned within her bosom? What muses inspired her? Although we may never know, we can see their impact. Her poems are stunning, powerful, curious, entrancing.

Bronte is fantastic!
I dedicated one of the poems in my recently published book of poems to Emily Bronte, and did so after falling in love with her own poetry. What divine spark burned within her bosom? What muses inspired her? Although we may never know, we can see their impact. Her poems are stunning, powerful, curious, entancing.

I thaught it was spellbinding!
This book is spellbinding and captivating. I couldn't put it down once I started it. ... Read more

Product Description

They are inspiring talented stunning remarkable wise

Customer Reviews (5)

Teen poets at their finest
When I saw Time You Let Me In highlighted in a recent review journal, I knew I would find some real gold in here (especially given the respect that editor Naomi Shihab Nye commands). And let me say, this collection does not disappoint.

Nye brings together 26 poets, all under the age of 25, in a collection of moving, insightful, and beautiful poems that cover the spectrum of topics, styles, and voices. Each poet and each poem is unique, with the sort of artistic eye only people who are under 25 can bring. I say that as a 25 year old, which makes it legitimate, right?

A review I read of this title criticized the voices in Time You Let Me In as "young." I would hope so. The insights one gets in poetry from the youth perspective is just as important as the "established" poet (i.e., your old white men to whom you are comparing these poems to). I'll be honest in saying I never once felt I was reading teen angst poems.

Highlights for me included Chase Berggrum's short and pointed pieces, Gray Emerson's disregard for traditional stylings and zesty word play, Margaret Bashaar's treatment of humor and romance (perhaps one in the same), and -- perhaps my favorite -- Kayla Sargenson's grandfather memories. Sargenson has a very powerful poem equating rape with New Orleans that will haunt me for a while, and thanks to the masterful editing job by Nye, I was able to read the next selection of Sargenson's "The Happiest Moment of My Life was When I Realized I was Happy" a little bit differently.

Anyone who has a background in poetry knows one of the biggest challenges in collecting works is exactly how they will progress within a volume. It is a struggle, as your reading of one poem will inform, enhance, or detract meaning from poems following. Nye deserves the highest praises for balancing the order with meaning.

Accessible To Everyone
I am a simple person.I often find poetry mysterious and unattainable.However, I loved this collection of poems.It is inspiring to see such talent in young authors, especially in a culture so distracted by celebrities and video games.

Of special note, I am amazed at the works by Jocelyn Stott and I look forward to see if she publishes anything else.

A glimpse of true emotions
Reviewed by McKenzie Tritt (age 16) for Reader Views (05/10)

Naomi Shihab Nye, a poet herself, has created several honored poetry collections, as well as received several awards for her writing. In "Time You Let Me In: 25 Poets Under 25," Nye has compiled poets and their works into a collection of poetry about all that life offers. The number of poets, however, is actually twenty-six. Nye claims that she had always been good with words and bad with numbers, hence the addition of another poet.

"Time You Let Me In" encompasses adults from all walks of life, each telling their own story. Some are related in their subjects, talking about love or war, while others are unrelated, relaying their thoughts on shooting ranges and flying. Either way, all the poets wish to give you a glimpse into their world, to learn a lesson, take away a piece of advice, or simply to enjoy honest poetry.

Each poet had their own section in the book, along with a short biography. It was fun to learn of their little quirks and interesting facts. Each person had a different style. Some were serious; others were fun, while still others wrote in both tones. It was enjoyable to switch form one tone to the next, soaking up each individual's thoughts and emotions.

The poets offer up gorgeous lines like" your blue/is my turquoise and my orange/is your gold" and in the slivered space/a flash between soul." One of my favorites was called "The Indexer in Love," which was a cute, creative way of expressing love and all that comes along with it.

I highly enjoyed the ups and downs of "Time You Let Me In: 25 Poets Under 25." I looked forward to reading a new individual's poems and seeing how their style was different from others. The poems speak of hopelessness and despair, but also of joy and comfort, creating a thoughtful balance between the opposite emotions. I recommend "Time You Let Me In" to older teens and adults, as some of the content it best suited and understood by older audiences. I encourage those who want to read good poetry or anyone looking for a glimpse of true emotions to pick this up.

Courtesy of Teens Read Too
Naomi Shihab Nye has been writing poetry for a long time. An excellent poet in her own right, it seems only fitting that Nye should choose twenty-five poets and compile their writings into a single volume.

All of these aspiring authors are under the age of twenty-five. Their poems speak of many things - love, loss, culture, war, belonging, and being remembered.

Each author possesses his/her own unique style and flow. Their offerings range from free verse rantings to odes about hair to indexes on love. They use phrases like "pulled your heart like a heavy plate from the cabinet of your chest" and "I'm writing to your soul because your body is ashes."

Their words will resonate with those who are young. These authors are full of hope, and their poetry conveys this in every word, sentence, and stanza. I highly suggest adding this poetry collection to any library where young people are patrons.

Reviewed by:LadyJay

Excellent poetry collection!
Inspiring poetry by young writers.This book would make an excellent gift to encourage student writers.It would also be an wonderful book to include in classroom collections. ... Read more

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Lovers, poets, and dragon-slaying heroes populate the gripping Icelandic sagas included in this collection. Part of Penguin Classics' new eight-volume Icelandic Saga collection, this volume includes stories that were composed in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries and are set more than two hundred years earlier-a time when the old Viking ethos of honor and heroic adventure merged with new ideas of romantic infatuation. Set in the farmsteads of Viking-age Iceland, each of these sagas features poet heroes, complex love triangles, and travels to foreign lands. In her informative introduction, Diana Whaley highlights these important themes and reveals how the authors used these tales to entertain, to preserve and shape traditions about the past, and to explore vital social issues. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Nice collection, but a little repetitive
This collection contains a number of important sagas, with Kormak's Saga being perhaps the most well known.The poetry is well translated, and explained well, and the sagas are quite readable.These sagas, but in particular Kormak's saga, show some indirect influence from the Medieval Romantic traditions and can be important in terms of studying strands of medieval literature as well.

Unfortunately, the whole genre seems to follow structurally similar plot lines, and I had trouble getting into the later ones in the book.However, the introduction and appendix provide a great deal of interesting information and are worth studying in their own right.

For those looking for specific sagas in this book (see below), or for something different in the saga world, I recommend this collection.However, this is a book to read one part and put back on your shelf for a while.In most cases, reading it straight through may not be the most helpful way to approach this work.

The sagas in this collection are:
Kormak's Saga
The Saga of Hallfred Troublesome-Poet
The Saga of Gunnlaug Serpent-Tongue
the Saga of Bjorn, Champion of the Hitardal People
Viglund's Saga

The Title Says it All
It's a collection of five Icelandic Sagas which share thematic similarities:the main character of each is a skald (poet) and each story contains a troubled love affair.They were written in the 1200s about semi-historical people and events of the 900s and 1000s (around the time Christianity was adopted in Iceland and Scandinavia.)One of the sagas (Gunnlaug Serpent-Tongue) is also included in the massive "Sagas of Icelanders," which I recommend highly.However, if you're curious about Icelandic Sagas and are leery of investing in such a huge book, this volume of "Warrior-Poets" is a good one to start with.The five sagas are all of manageable length and the plots are neatly focused around the main character of each, which makes for easy reading.The plain-spoken, efficient saga style of narration can be compared to Hemingway or Hammett and feels quite modern.
Sagas were unique in the Middle Ages for being prose narratives in a vernacular language about people who were NOT of the nobility (during a time when literature was dominated by Latin, and by epic poetry whose main characters were of noble blood.)Though the stories are told in prose, these being sagas of warrior POETS, they are sprinkled generously throughout with verses of skaldic poetry.The skaldic style was very formal and consisted of lots of "kennings" which are ways of describing something by allusion and metaphor, without naming the thing itself.Some kennings are almost like riddles and have to be carefully deciphered (surely listeners in the cultural context of the Viking age understood them much more readily than we do today.)The translators have opted to render the verses as literally as possible, to preserve their integrity as Poetry.Explanations of the kennings are printed alongside the verses, to aid in comprehension.
The five sagas in this book all share similar themes, although they have differences enough to make each one uniquely enjoyable.The characters are generally unruly and violent.Their talent as poets gains them recognition and rewards from kings, but it also gets them into trouble when they can't refrain from composing an insulting verse about their rival.In each saga, the main character in his youth falls in love with a woman, but for one reason or another he can't marry her right away. This unfulfilled love, along with the hero's sharp tongue, drives the conflict and provides motivation for an endless series of escalating feuds.One hero immaturely drags his feet until the girl is married off to someone else, then spends the rest of the story psychotically badgering her and her husband, depriving her of happiness.In another saga, the hero can't escape the bullying of another man who has hated him (for no apparent reason) since childhood and is constantly hatching cowardly plots against him - including the stealing of his betrothed.One hero, who is regarded around the neighborhood as a good-for-nothing, makes a deal with his beloved's father to go abroad and make a name for himself, then return to marry the girl after a set period of time.Of course, he comes home late to find she has been given to another... but he sleeps with her anyway, which sets the husband's vengeance in motion.
Even with their melodramatic-sounding plots, these stories don't come across as romances."Viglund's Saga," the latest one in this collection, has a fairy-tale ambience to it which reflects a Continental influence, but even so it still radiates a stark "manliness" which is a central trait of the Icelandic Sagas.The sagas are the most entertaining of Medeival literature, and readers definitely cannot go wrong with this little collection. ... Read more

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Product Description
This scarce antiquarian book is included in our special Legacy Reprint Series. In the interest of creating a more extensive selection of rare historical book reprints, we have chosen to reproduce this title even though it may possibly have occasional imperfections such as missing and blurred pages, missing text, poor pictures, markings, dark backgrounds and other reproduction issues beyond our control. Because this work is culturally important, we have made it available as a part of our commitment to protecting, preserving and promoting the world's literature. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Brilliant introduction to major philosophical traditions
This remarkable book is composed of six lectures which Santayana read at Columbia University in 1910--lectures based on a regular course he taught at Harvard College.It is extraordinary that there should ever have been university lectures of such outstanding quality.It is doubtful that we have anything to approach it today.As merely a book, "Three Philosophical Poets" is a masterpiece of style and interpretation.The three philosophical poets of the title are Lucretius, Dante, and Goethe, each of whom represents the three main sources of the major speculative systems of Western philosophy.Lucretius, the materialist, is the poet of naturalism; Dante, the Christian and Platonist, is the poet of supernaturalism; and Goethe, the romanticist, is the poet of experience and idealism.

What gives this book its special excellence is Santayana's ability to describe each of the traditions with sympathetic understanding.Although a materialist himself, Santayana does not use the book do advance any specific philosophical agenda.He does not try to score points against the speculative traditions he dislikes (e.g. romanticism, idealism), nor does he make any effort to trump the materialism that he favored or the Catholicism he admired.Instead, he seeks to uncover the special motivations and passions that lead to each tradition, showing how even the most dubious philosophical ideas have a sort of plausibility when one understands how intensely human they are.For example, the supernaturalism of Dante is ultimately an expression of the idea that things are to be understood by their uses or purposes.This, in the final analysis, is what unites Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle with the Christian tradition.The Greek naturalists, on the other hand, had a totally different view."Nothing arises in the body in order that we may use it," insisted Lucretius, "but what arises brings forth its use."Here we have a discarding of final causes typical not merely of naturalism, but of modern science as well.

There is no better introduction to materialism-naturalism, platonism-Christianity, and romanticism-idealism.Santayana clears up scores of misconceptions which have developed regarding these traditions and shows that no philosophical vision can be entirely just to the totality of human life if it does not take into consideration at least some of the insights peculiar to each of these traditions.It does not speak well for our culture that this beautifully written work should have been allowed to fall out of print. ... Read more

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The Everyman's Library Pocket Poets hardcover series is popular for its compact size and reasonable price which does not compromise content. Poems: Rilke contains poems from The Book of Images; New Poems; Requiem for a Friend; Poems, 1906-1926; French Poems; The Life of Mary; Sonnets to Orpheus; The Duino Elegies; Letters to a Young Poet; and an index of first lines. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Small packaging of great poetry...
This small book packs a wonderful selection of Rilke's poetry...
I have had the book for many years and revisit it frequently; it is a great gift to friends, providing an excellent introduction to Rilke's poetry...

Much has been written on the particular challenges of translating Rilke; from capturing the subtle flows and associations of his poetry, to rendering it accessible, to interpreting its many meanings accurately.This translation provides one of the finest capture of Rilke's poetry. It is very vivid, pleasant to read and often sheds light on difficult parts, retaining the multiple meanings of the original. I particularly like the translation of the Duino Elegies, my all-time favorite poems; indeed, I compared this translation line by line with several others and feel its interpretation of the Elegies is most illuminating.

A small elegant selection
The 'Everyman' volumes provide a selection of the poet's work. Small and elegant editions which perhaps especially with Rilke give the kind of feeling the poet would like one to have i.e. of having a precious object in one's hand. But this is for sampling and tasting. To know to really know a poet like Rilke one should take the greatest work, 'Duino Elegies' 'Sonnets to Orpheus' and read them as a whole.
Yet this edition gives a real 'feeling' of what the poet is, and will provide the reader a sense of whether they wish to go deeper in exploration of the poet's world. ... Read more

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In the most extensive work to date on major poets from the mountain South, John Lang takes as his point of departure an oft-quoted remark by Jim Wayne Miller: "Appalachian literature is--and has always been--as decidedly worldly, secular, and profane in its outlook as the [region's] traditional religion appears to be spiritual and otherworldly." Although this statement may be accurate for Miller's own poetry and fiction, Lang maintains that it does not do justice to the pervasive religious and spiritual concerns of many of the mountain South's finest writers, including the five other leading poets whose work he analyzes along with Miller's.

Fred Chappell, Robert Morgan, Jeff Daniel Marion, Kathryn Stripling Byer, and Charles Wright, Lang demonstrates, all write poetry that explores, sometimes with widely varying results, what they see as the undeniable presence of the divine within the temporal world. Like Blake and Emerson before them, these poets find the supernatural within nature rather than beyond it. They all exhibit a love of place in their poems, a strong sense of connection to nature and the land, especially the mountains. Yet while their affirmation of the world before them suggests a resistance to the otherworldliness that Miller points to, their poetry is nonetheless permeated with spiritual questing.

Dante strongly influences both Chappell and Wright, though the latter eventually resigns himself to being simply "a God-fearing agnostic," whereas Chappell follows Dante in celebrating "the love that moves the sun and other stars." Byer, probably the least orthodox of these poets, chooses to lay up treasures on earth, rejecting the transcendent in favor of a Native American spirituality of immanence, while Morgan and Marion find in nature what Marion calls a "vocabulary of wonders" akin to Emerson's conviction that nature is the language of the spiritual.

Employing close readings of the poets' work and relating it to British and American Romanticism as well as contemporary eco-theology and eco-criticism, Lang's book is the most ambitious and searching foray yet into the worlds of these renowned post-World War II Appalachian poets. ... Read more

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“In the fall of 1970, at the New School in Greenwich Village, a new teacher posted a flyer on the wall,” begins Alexander Neubauer’s introduction to this remarkable book. “It read ‘Meet Poets and Poetry, with Pearl London and Guests.’” Few students responded. No one knew Pearl London, the daughter of M. Lincoln Schuster, cofounder of Simon & Schuster. But the seminar’s first guests turned out to be John Ashbery, Adrienne Rich, and Robert Creely. Soon W. S. Merwin followed, then Mark Strand and Galway Kinnell.

London invited poets to bring their drafts to class, to discuss their work in progress and the details of vision and revision that brought a poem to its final version. From Maxine Kumin in 1973 to Eamon Grennan in 1996, including Amy Clampitt, Marilyn Hacker, Paul Muldoon, Nobel laureate Derek Walcott, and U.S. poet laureates Robert Hass, Robert Pinsky, Louise Glück, and Charles Simic, the book follows an extraordinary range of poets as they create their poems and offers numerous illustrations of the original drafts, which bring their processes to light. With James Merrill, London discusses autobiography and subterfuge; with Galway Kinnell, his influential notion that the new nature poem must include the city and not exclude man; with June Jordan, “Poem in Honor of South African Women” and the question of political poetry and its uses. Published here for the first time, the conversations are intimate, funny, irreverent, and deeply revealing. Many of the drafts under discussion—Robert Hass’s “Meditation at Lagunitas,” Edward Hirsch’s “Wild Gratitude,” Robert Pinsky’s “The Want Bone”—turned into seminal works in the poets’ careers.

There has never been a gathering like Poetry in Person, which brings us a wealth of understanding and unparalleled access to poets and their drafts, unraveling how a great poem is actually made. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Must-read for Lovers of Poetry
Inspiring collection of interviews by a dedicated teacher of poetry-writing who has persuaded working poets to come to her classroom. Check the Table of Contents for an index of great modern poets who visited. This book provides a valuable insider's view of how a poet thinks and works. An important piece from each writer-guest is published. I suggest that one read a selection daily, as a poetry-devotional. Not nightly, becqause the ideas and feelings ignite the reader. For bed-time reading, I prefer a cozy mystery novel. "Poetry in Person" will wake you right up.

Pearl London leaves behind a veritable archive of the words of great modern poets.
//Poetry in Person// represents the life's work of a great poet. Alexander Neubauer has edited this volume that presents a veritable archive left behind by Pearl London. Poet and extraordinary poetry teacher Pearl London organized sessions with poets she invited to join her class at the New School in Greenwich Village and discuss their poems-in-progress. For over two decades, she welcomed poets to her classroom. She shared her gift for seeing into the heart of a poem and the mind of its author. The magical thing: she recorded these conversations, leaving behind words we can learn from.

Sifting through London's audio archive, Neubauer selects poets to feature in //Poetry in Person// and picks out what portions of conversations to include. Each conversation highlights a poem and gives an excerpt from the manuscript. Thus, readers can get a sense of what phases each poet went through to arrive at a completed poem. Short biographies of each poet are provided. //Poetry in Person// features London's conversations with some of the greatest poets of our time such as Galway Kinnell, C.K. Williams, James Merrill, Derek Walcott, Robert Hass, Lucille Clifton, Philip Levine, Edward Hirsch, Charles Simic, Li-Young Lee. A priceless book!

Reviewed by Viola Allo

Eyeopening and compelling
I bought this book for a paper I was writing on Louise Gluck, and ended up reading and liking the whole thing. I love all the different bases that the book covers.First of all, the informed, spontaneous conversation between a writer and a careful reader--which reminded me of that collection of interviews from the Believer, "Writers talking to Writers."And then the workshop aspect of it--of students being about to ask the writers directly about their work and their process.And then, finally, the drafts that the poets bring in with them to the workshops (many of these are included in the book), that show the evolution and the fluidity of the poems.Added to all of this are the author's short but illuminating introductions to the poets; I wasn't familiar with some of them, but he did a great job putting them quickly in context. All in all, a really great book!

A Marvelous View Into the Workings of the Creative Process
Open this handsome volume to any page and you will be absorbed into insightful and intriguing discussions of the creative process of some of the greatest poets working during the last forty years. An acclaimed teacher at the New School in New York invited acclaimed poets to her class, where they discussed their writing in depth. The sessions were taped, rediscovered in recent years, and several dozen elegantly edited with introductions that give helpful context. The result is a work that will inform not just any reader of poetry but anyone fascinated by the creative act. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (2)

thank you haki madhubuti for being a genius
Haki R. Madhubuti has written some of the most important poetry of the last fifty years and he is without question one of the preeminent poets writing in America today.

This his eleventh book of poetry, Run Toward Fear: New Poems and A Poet's Handbook is divided into two main sections: a portion of new poems and, at the back, a handbook of advice for poets young and old. The first line of the first of the forty poems declares, "It is the poets who run toward fear." And the first of the forty enumerated aphorisms of advice in "The Poet's Handbook" at the back begins, "Learn to `run toward fear.'" It is a sentiment repeated throughout the book: "The highest mandate a poet has (other than writing the strongest poems that she or he is capable of) is to be in the vanguard with others in the pursuit of freedom and justice for all" (67).

This book is a commanding and potent statement of the redemptive power and political essence of art and love, and it contains more apothegmatic addresses to and imperative phrases for the reader than probably any other poetry book I've read. Its mode is instructive, pedagogic, unabashedly inspirational, palliative, and its tone is by turns avuncular, elegiac, lyric, fiery and plain spoken. Professor Madhubuti has not written a twee, aestheticist, elegant collection, but a work of nurturant pragmatic force.

Insofar as the entire book amounts to a manual of instruction about how to triumph, in art, spiritually, democratically, intellectually, and emotionally, residing continually in the local, in the face of systematic oppressive othering, the management of emotions (by judges, employers, police), the pervasive maintenance of economic, gender, racial and ethnic boundaries, regulated discourse, disenfranchisement from wider "whiter" corporate power networks, and the regular vicissitudes of mortal life - insofar as this book does this, and does it triumphantly, it is poetry of the highest kind. It is a poetry enthroned in history.

In "Why Shani?," a poem dedicated "For the Baraka Family" and remarking upon the murder of Amina and Amiri Baraka's youngest daughter, Shani Isis Makeda Jones Baraka, then 32, Madhubuti writes,

"to rise from unanswerable pain

requires a history beyond the acquisition of things,

demands work on the other side of self and self.

you have labored and researched the catalogs of the world

& refused to be separated from the poor and poorer.

your love is uncorrupted and contagious,

grounded in your arts, activism, and the familial.

we reciprocate." (21)

This is a poetry tightly rooted in the American pragmatist tradition stretching back through Ralph Ellison, William Carlos Williams, W. E. B. Du Bois, John Dewey, William James, Emerson and beyond. In fact, this book -- insofar as it is, generically speaking, in great part essentially a handbook of conduct -- has roots that could be said to reach all the way back to the great pragmatist Stoic philosopher Epictetus, born a Greek slave, whose Enchiridion, which means manual or handbook, is a collection of pragmatic aphorisms for living one's life in the face of adversity.

In other words, Run Toward Fear is as much a book of poems as it is an ars vivendi. It is for this reason one of the most unusual and satisfying books of poetry I have ever read. These are poems whose pleasures derive from their utility: Twenty-two of the forty poems bear some italic text at the bottom explaining the purpose and occasion of the poem, e.g., "Remembering the children of Kosovo," or "For the teachers of poetry," or "For Margaret Walker Alexander, 1915-1998." This is a poetics embedded in the local in a way fundamentally contrary to aestheticism and its pretensions toward universal cultural value.

In his autobiography William Carlos Williams quotes John Dewey: "The local is the only universal, upon that all art builds." If the very existence of aestheticism is founded upon the dismissal of history and the local, then this book is the farthest thing from aestheticist as you can get. The school of quietude, so prevalent in American poetry since the rise of the New Criticism, has insisted that poetry (and poetry especially of all the genres) has no, and can have no, active political force in the world. Madhubuti works then in the radical political tradition of all great writers, not just great Black writers, when he declares, "The best poets find peace in themselves and work incessantly to find it in others, their surroundings, and on more than one occasion write poems about the necessity and possibility of a world at peace." (61) Note that he does not say the best poets satisfy aesthetic conventions: he says simply they find peace. A better standard for great writing cannot be found.

This book is then about finding peace through history, family, connection, and the genius that rises from them and must learn to run toward fear if it is to survive: the relations among real people are named on page after page, as in his tribute, "Our Daughter on Loan," an elegy for Kevani Zelpa Moyo, the daughter of Kimya and Kofi Moyo, dead at age 17:

[...]

your history was still in discovery

as grandmothers, big mommas and babas declared,

"you were on loan to us,"

not a borrowed book or pawn shop watch.

your visit among us is still mystery and melody,

"tweety" birds with rhythm in their eyes.

your mother is a southern river,

your father a strong stone with baggage,

your family is Black stories, deep crops,

gathering winds, Black hurricanes in waiting.

you were washed in love and possibilities,

sun bathed in smiles, tunes and cultural signatures.

why you leave us so soon?

For Kevani Zelpah Moyo

(1982-1999) (30)

I believe Haki Madhubuti would concur with Lynn Worsham, who, in her essay "Going Postal: Pedagogic Violence and the Schooling of Emotion," declares "that if our commitment is to real individual and social change...then the work of decolonization must occur at the affective level, not only to reconstitute the emotional life of the individual but also, and more importantly, to reconstruct the feeling or mood that characterizes an age. To be sure, our most urgent political and pedagogical task remains the fundamental reeducation of emotion." I believe it is this very project that has tasked Madhubuti since his first book as Don L. Lee, Don't Cry, Scream. And he has chosen with this book to highlight a lesson that is relevant now and will remain so for as long as civility, love, and happiness are threatened by the violence of ignorant men and unjust structures: that unless those who make art, and those whom art makes, first realize the extent of their fear, and then act upon it and see it for what it is -- a tool wielded against us by "the bomb users, greed promoters, career politicians, corporate plastic makers, armies of money-makers, pleasure-over-principle advocates, proponents of artificial food" (67) -- we cannot be free. And poets are especially tasked, he says, for,

"The determined force of any age is the poem, old as

ideas and as lifegiving as active lovers. A part of any

answer is in the rhythm of the people; their heartbeat

comes urgently in two universal forms, music and poetry.

for the reader for the quiet seeker

for the many willing to sacrifice one syllable

mumblings and easy conclusions

poetry

can be the gigantic river

that allows one to recognize

in the circle of fire

the center of life." (56)

-- Gabriel Gudding (This review first appeared in AMERICAN BOOK REVIEW, 2004 or 2005 or so)

Execellent Handbook for Aspiring Poets
Haki Madhubuti's book of poetry is a power packed punch for the reader and would-be writer. He addresses current events, history, family and celebrities. He has the ability to use the pages as a canvas to illustrate the raw emotions in life: love, loss, rage/anger, admiration, and admonition. Madhubuti allows the reader to peer inside his thoughts and wrap your self in his feelings.

I so enjoyed this book. The poems made me laugh, feel angry, and think about how I could affect change in my world. The poem "Fear" deals with the topical issues of the war in Iraq and corporate greed; "Legal Lottery" sheds a spot light on the farcical Kenneth Starr report; and "Missed Information" discussed the overly misuse of the word love. Many other poems were odes to family, artists, activists and other writers.

The Handbook for Poets is in section three of this book. Madhubuti offers aspiring poets 40 rules for composing prose. He encourages writers to, "Never give up on love, children, good poetry, writing, music, visual art, theatre, dance, books and the power of ART to transform and make progressively whole the most backward of people and those disguised as human beings." The author also includes and extensive list of poets he admires and considers to be experts in the art of writing prose: Gwendolyn Brooks, Lucille Clifton, Audre Lorde, Sonia Sanchez, Billy Collins, Yusef Komunyakaa, Langston Hughes, Kalamu ya Salaam, Maya Angelou, Alice Walker, Clarence Major, and Quraysh Ali Lansana to name a few.

This is a must have in the book collection of aspiring poets and those who love weaving tapestries with words.
... Read more