Coming into Eighty: Poems [Hardcover]

May Sarton (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 17, 1994

In this collection, May Sarton takes on the subject of herself in old age.

Here are her observations and reflections both on daily events and on the larger questions of life and death, the difficulties and rewards of living alone. Her many fans will find Sarton as celebratory and fresh as ever.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In these sparely fashioned poems Sarton (The Silence Now) contemplates life from the perspective of 80 years. The book is dedicated to the poet's cat, her muse. This may seem whimsical, and some of the poems are essentially notations ("A Thought"). Others, however, like sudden revelations that occur in the small hours, are distilled and crystalline: "these poems are minimal because my life is reduced to essences." Their tone is often dark, as the poet remembers friends and family now gone. Sarton's poetic voice ranges from such painful severity to rhythmic, rhyming celebrations of life which owe much to Yeats, whom she acknowledges as an inspiration. But for her, old age represents less an aesthetic stance than an everyday reality, sometimes painfully personal and revealing: "When I am dressed/ At last/ It is a small triumph." In form the poems are very restrained, but not in emotion. They provide a vehicle for simply transmitting the ebb and flow of memory into presence.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

As she enters her ninth decade, Sarton writes in the preface to her 17th collection, "these poems are minimal because my life is reduced to essences." In spite of age and illness, Sarton's voice is still disarmingly fresh and buoyant, whether she is rejoicing in the appearance of a scarlet tanager or describing the challenge of getting dressed in the morning. Spare, delicately focused, and frequently rhymed, her poems are inspired by the small blessings of daily life: the companionship of a beloved cat, a bedside bouquet of fresh flowers, and the changing seasons as viewed from a favorite window. The only missteps are a handful of poems on weighty themes (war and destructiveness in general) that blunder awkwardly into the poet's intimate world of house, garden, and memory. Perhaps what Sarton hopes to leave with her readers is the gift of her own example of awareness and resilience: "I am still whole and merry/ And when all's said and done/Rejoice in my strange story,/Ardent and alone." For libraries with a following for her journals and novels.
Christine Stenstrom, Brooklyn P.L.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 72 pages
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company; 1st edition (November 17, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393036898
• ISBN-13: 978-0393036893
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 6 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.9 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,227,218 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

May Sarton is the pen name of Eleanore Marie Sarton (May 3, 1912 - July 16, 1995), an American poet, novelist, and memoirist. Her parents were science historian George Sarton and his wife, the English artist Mabel Eleanor Elwes. In 1915, her family moved to Boston, Massachusetts. She went to school in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and started theatre lessons in her late teens. In 1945 she met her partner for the next thirteen years, Judy Matlack, in Santa Fe, New Mexico. They separated in 1956, when Sarton's father died and Sarton moved to Nelson, New Hampshire. Honey in the Hive (1988) is about their relationship. Sarton later moved to York, Maine. She died of breast cancer on July 16, 1995. She is buried in Nelson, New Hampshire.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Emotional Connections are Austounding, June 10, 1998

By 

[e-mail] (Plessisville, Québec) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Coming into Eighty: Poems (Hardcover)

As a 15 year old, it seemed to me a bit curious that May Sarton's book about becoming 80 touched me so deeply. Only later did I realise that May Sarton was pushing forward a very important message--emotions transcend age. Although I deeply wish this anthology had included the poem most dear to me, "Friendship: The Storms", Sarton was able to focus on many other emotions with similar strength. Truly a narrative of emotion, rather than an anothology of poetry, I highly recommend "Coming into Eighty".

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Poetry from "a woman of magnificent radiance", August 14, 2002

By 

Michael J. Mazza - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Coming into Eighty: Poems (Paperback)

"Coming into Eighty," by May Sarton, is a wonderful collection of poems from this prolific writer. Sarton includes a preface in which she reflects on writing poems in the 79th and 80th years of her life. In the preface she also pays tribute to her cat Pierrot (who is also mentioned in some of the poems).

Sarton writes with a style that is as clear as a ringing bell, but gentle and often sensuous. The central recurring theme to the book (as indicated by the title) is growing old. But Sarton is not bitter; rather, she is observant and reflective. Other important themes in the book include violence and suffering, love and friendship, and the beauties of the natural world. Her attentive eye captures animals' footprints on newly fallen snow, the flight of a golden finch, the dance of fireflies, and other wonderful things.

Some outstanding poems: "December Moon," which is rich in nature images; "After the Long Enduring," about a friend's struggle with AIDS; "The Artist," a delightful piece about an elephant with an artistic talent; "The Scream," which captures an act of violence in the natural world; and "Getting Dressed," about the effort of getting dressed when you're old.

In a back cover blurb for the book, Gwendolyn Brooks describes May Sarton as "a woman of magnificent radiance--a Truth-teller!!" I couldn't have said it better myself. For another great collection of poetry that has growing old as a key theme, try Allen Ginsberg's "Cosmopolitan Greetings."