The Collected Poems of Amy Clampitt (Paperback)

by Amy Clampitt (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
"If Gerard Hopkins and Marianne Moore, those two uniquenesses, had married each other, they might have borne Amy Clampitt," says poet Mona Van Duyn. Certainly Hopkins's capacity for sprung rhythms wrapped around an awestruck wonder at the world seems to mesh, in Clampitt's poems, with Moore's genius for linguistic playfulness and depth of detail. Clampitt's ear is nearly unparalleled in 20th-century poets, and her delight in specificity richly rewards readers' attention. The Collected Poems of Amy Clampitt brings together a lifetime of good work, and is one to treasure. Consider this excerpt from the traveling poem "Losing Track of Language": "The train leaps toward Italy; words fall away / through the dark into the dark bedroom / of everything left behind, the unendingness / of things lost track of--of who, of where-- / where I'm losing track of language." --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal
"I find it tempting to imagine what/...the light was like," muses Clampitt in one of her finest poems, and now that her light has been tragically snuffed, we can at least be grateful to have her five books of poetry?The Kingfisher (1983), What the Light Was Like (1985), Archaic Figure (1987), Westward (1990), and A Silence Opens (1994). Collected here for the first time three years after Clampitt's death, these works represent some of the best poetry written in late- 20th-century America. A personal and affecting introduction by poet Mary Jo Salter rounds out the volume. Any library lacking Clampitt's luminous work owes it to its patrons to buy this book.?Barbara Hoffert, "Library Journal"
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 496 pages
• Publisher: Knopf; rep. pbk edition (April 20, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0375700641
• ISBN-13: 978-0375700644
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 5.8 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #507,530 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Swoonworthy, October 23, 2000

By A Customer

Amy Clampitt sure-handedly set the gold standard for poetry in the waning decades of the twentieth century. Her work is a universe of grace. I've got three copies of this one--one for the bedside table, one for sneaking reacquaintance in the lower-left drawer of my office desk, and another for the slow-crawling intervals of the commute. When it comes to poetry, there haven't exactly been too many essential collections of late. But this is one.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Great and Idiosyncratic Poet, July 30, 2005

By	Serious Reader (Connecticut) - See all my reviews

Amy Clampitt was an American original. Both her life and her poetry demand serious attention. Having all of her five volumes in one big, beautiful book means that a reader can take the measure of (and derive pleasure from) the woman who was America's oldest "young" poet, who did not publish her first book until she was 63. Now that her letters have also been published, we can get a sense of the woman behind the pen. Both the letters and, even more fully, the poems, attest to the deep humanity of a wonderful writer.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What the Light Was Like: Remembering Amy Clampitt's mind, September 28, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: The Collected Poems of Amy Clampitt (Hardcover)

Now here in one gorgeous volume is 496 pages of proof that this original and curious intellect once lived among us, and, having looked (and looked) at our time and many places, left us these hard-headed, light-filled poems.