Customer Reviews

Collected Poems of Sara Teasdale

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I have an original copy of this book, given to me by my Grandfather, a retired English professor. It gathers all of Teasdale's finest works into one wonderful collection. From 'The Poor House' to 'The Metropolitan Tower' to 'Barter', some of her finest poems are in this collection. And now, I am purchasing another copy for my best friend!

Sara Teasdale has truly moved me to tears so many times in the reading of her incredibly sensitive poetry that it's hard to put common words to it. I have read this collected works many times and it is a wonderfully arranged collection of her finest poems. Any reader of poetry will be entranced by her precision and immense sensitivity to life, love, pain angst etc. As a professor, I often read sections of her poems to my students and it never fails that they love this women's words of love , her appreciation of nature, and the powerful eyes of one who sees life. I know of few poets in history that can approach her simple way of opening the wounds of our lives in such few words. I recommend her to all who would be ready to enjoy true poetry at it's finest

An excellent collection of poems by Sara Teasdale, one of the early 20th Century's forgotten poets. Unlike most poets, Teasdale uses classical rhyming and form for her work. However, I found that the poems seemed free and fluid, more so than other modern efforts. These poems will definately touch the romantic side, I recommend Teasdale to anyone who loves romance and sensual writing.

Teasdale's poems are lovely and this is a wonderful collection. However, it is not as complete as the title implies. There are several poems missing from the original manuscript of "Rivers To The Sea" and no foreword that explains their absence. I can only imagine that there have been similar omissions from the other manuscripts included in the collection.

The book is beautifully bound, has a detailed table of contents, and an index of first lines. It is refreshing to have the poems presented without heavy-handed footnotes and biographical intrusions, but the book doesn't have an editor's name on it, nor does it have an explanatory foreword.

It would be useful to know whether or not these poems were the ones that Miss Teasdale authorized, or if someone chose to pull them out of her trash can after she died. Were they reconstructed from notebooks? Was anything omitted or added to the original manuscripts?

It can be a long way from first draft to final version. Unhappy experiences with gonzo editions of Shakespeare, Haendel's "Messiah," and "Billy Budd" have taught me to beware of invisible editors.

The tragic Sara Teasdale was one of the foremost female poets of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with her formal style and focus on romance. "The Collected Poems of Sara Teasdale" brings together all eight of her books, although the sole focus of her poetry gets a bit tiring after awhile.

Although the early twentieth century saw the blossoming of the "new" poetry, Teasdale stuck to more formal prose: "The fountain shivers lightly in the rain/the laurels drip, the fading roses fall/the marble satyr plays a mournful strain/That leaves the rainy fragrance musical." Not terribly original in HOW it's written, but the rich language is all the more striking.

Over time her style became a bit more experimental ("while your kisses and the flowers/falling, falling/tangled my hair"), but she usually stuck to the same rhyme schemes and simple language. And the final poem of the collection seems sad when one considers that she committed suicide: "I will make this world of my devising/out of a dream in my lonely mind/I shall find the crystal of peace,-- above me/stars I shall find."

Teasdale never actually had a successful romance in her life, but she was obviously in love with love. "When I am not with you/I am alone/for there is no one else/and there is nothing/that comforts me but you," she writes late in the volume. Imagine having that written to you, or at least given to illustrate the feelings.

Almost every poem in the eight books deals with romance, lovers, and how much she adored both. In fact, after awhile it gets a little tedious; it's a good idea to read it slowly, in chunks. However, Teasdale's love poetry is extremely beautiful and richly written, so that it's hard not to get dewy-eyed when reading them individually.

"The Collected Poems of Sara Teasdale" is a rich read, beautifully written and full of flowers, stars, dark rooms and unnamed lovers. A beautifully romantic read, though too intense to be read in one setting.

Sara Teasdale is easily one of the greatest American poets and this collection has all her great works in one book. A must for lovers of poetry.

Sara Teasdale ... the very name seems so genteel, doesn't it? And a cursory glance at her graceful, melodic poetry might easily reinforce that judgment. But for all its limpid beauty & lyric flow, her poetry runs far more deeply than that. Perhaps knowing that her all-too-short life ended in suicide will make the reader look a little more closely at her work.

Readers of Ray Bradbury will certainly recognize her name, as her poem "There Will Come Soft Rains" inspired the title of one of his finest short stories. An excerpt:

There will come soft rains and the smell of the ground,
And swallows circling with their shimmering sound;

And frogs in the pools singing at night,
And wild plum trees in tremulous white;

Robins will wear their feathery fire,
Whistling their whims on a low fence-wire;

And not one will know of the war, not one
Will care at last when it is done.

Lovely, but also haunting. And as you read on, it becomes clear that her poetry was devoted to Beauty, to Love, and also to Death. There's a certain quiet resignation to her lines -- not so much despairing as accepting, as in "Winter Stars." An excerpt:

Years go, dreams go, and youth goes too,
The world's heart breaks beneath its wars,
All things are changed, save in the east
The faithful beauty of the stars.

Her final volume of poems was entitled "Strange Victory," and seems to presage the victory of Death over Life, as well as a private victory over whatever darkness enfolded the poet. Just look at "All That Was Mortal" to get a glimpse of her soul in those final days:

All that was mortal shall be burned away,
All that was mind shall have been put to sleep.
Only the spirit shall awake to say
What the deep says to the deep;
But for an instance, for it too is fleeting --
As on a field with new snow everywhere,
Footprints of birds record a brief alighting
In flight begun and ended in the air.

This sort of classic lyricism is out of favor these days, which is a shame, because there's something forever contemporary that underlies the period veneer of her work. Perhaps it strikes too close to the bone for some readers, who might prefer a bit of distancing irony -- this poetry is utterly sincere, and for all its seeming artifice, utterly naked. It's definitely in need of rediscovery by the discerning, sensitive reader -- most highly recommended!

A lovely collection of poems, all of which are easy to read and enjoy. Think of this volume as good way to begin to appreciate poetry. Most of the poems relate to the natural world. If you like Edna St. Vincent Millay, then you will like Sara Teasdale.

Finally a (more or less) complete collection of Teasdale's works, but this edition does not have a clickable table of contents. A note to DigiReads: is it really that hard to make an interactive table of contents? I can do it with Mobipocket Creator, why can't you?