Customer Reviews

Apocalypse, and Other Poems

One of the most moving and important poems in the collection is "Coplas on the Death of Merton." APOCALYPSE AND OTHER POEMS also includes Cardenal's early "Epigrams" (my favorite), several devotional poems based upon biblical passages, his mystical long-poem "Apocalypse" and his Native-American inspired long-poem "Recordings of the Sacred Pipe."

I personally think Cardenal didn't hit his stride until ESTRECHO DUDUSO (THE DOUBTFUL STRAIT) and CANTICO COSMICO (COSMIC CANTICLE). His revolutionary poems come off very strident and his devotionals dogmatic. They do allow you to see how he modified his style to more effectively convey his rhetorical points later.

The big drawback to this book for me is that it doesn't contain the original Spanish versions of the poems. Since I don't have them, I can't judge how good the translations are -- although they all seem competent. There is definitely a big Pound influence in Cardenal, and I'm sure that drove the translators nuts. In the plus column, the book has a brief but excellent introduction that gives background on Cardenal, Merton and the poems. The book also has a small but handy glossary.

Fans of Cardenal's other books should most definitely read this one, unless they have access and ability to read the original Spanish texts, of course. Those who haven't read Cardenal will probably have difficulty assimilating all the different personas presented in this collection. I recommend John Lyons' translation of THE DOUBTFUL STRAIT as a good introduction to the revolutionary/historian Cardenal, and his COSMIC CANTICLE for those who like mystic poets like Blake and Ginsburg. This is a shorter work than those, and for hardy folks willing to jump right in, you will be able to find which persona of Cardenal most interests you and go from there. Buena suerte.