Doggerel: Poems About Dogs (Everyman's Library Pocket Poets) [Hardcover]

Carmela Ciuraru (Editor)

Book Description

Series: Everyman's Library Pocket Poets | Publication Date: October 21, 2003

From Chaucer to Billy Collins and from basset hounds to brindle bull terriers, Doggerel presents a robust brood of the most charming verse tributes ever offered to our beloved canine companions.

The rich and assorted cadences of some of the most distinguished poets across the centuries ring out from these pages–from Spenser, Shakespeare, and Pope to Merrill, Merwin, and Muldoon–celebrating pooches of every pedigree and persuasion. Here is Margaret Cavendish’s barking chorus of beagles on the hunt; Elizabeth Bishop’s “Pink Dog” alongside Robyn Selman’s “My Dog is Named for Elizabeth Bishop”; Charles Baxter’s villanelle “Dog Kibble,” whose dog-narrator decides that “Life isn’t meaningless because there’s food”; and the desultory charms of Jane Kenyon’s unleashed dog, nuzzling about on a drizzly afternoon.

From lazy dogs curled up by the fireplace to audacious hounds howling at the moon, from mutts to purebreds, puppies to old dogs, Doggerel is an irresistible gathering of fast and faithful friends.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

This charming book will expand the audience for poetry because its primary audience is neither poets nor poetry fans but dog lovers, who have included, this collection makes clear, poets of note from Geoffrey Chaucer to Lawrence Ferlinghetti. Editor Ciuraru includes classics, such as Alexander Pope's sardonic epigraph "I am his Highness' dog at Kew; / Pray tell me, sir, whose dog are you," beside new works, such as Jill Ciment's witty parody of Sylvia Plath ("I begin to talk like a dog / I think I may well be a dog") and Jane Kenyon's tender "After an Illness, Walking the Dog" ("Wet things smell stronger, / and I suppose his main regret is that / he can sniff just one at a time"). Shakespeare and Kipling, Stevie Smith and Robin Becker--dozens of poets reflect on the joys and sorrows of living with dogs. The section on "The Virtues of Particular Breeds," in which homage is paid St. Bernards, Pomeranians, Irish setters, greyhounds, and other breeds, is especially satisfying. Patricia Monaghan
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

From the Inside Flap

From Chaucer to Billy Collins and from basset hounds to brindle bull terriers, Doggerel presents a robust brood of the most charming verse tributes ever offered to our beloved canine companions.

The rich and assorted cadences of some of the most distinguished poets across the centuries ring out from these pages?from Spenser, Shakespeare, and Pope to Merrill, Merwin, and Muldoon?celebrating pooches of every pedigree and persuasion. Here is Margaret Cavendish?s barking chorus of beagles on the hunt; Elizabeth Bishop?s ?Pink Dog? alongside Robyn Selman?s ?My Dog is Named for Elizabeth Bishop?; Charles Baxter?s villanelle ?Dog Kibble,? whose dog-narrator decides that ?Life isn?t meaningless because there?s food?; and the desultory charms of Jane Kenyon?s unleashed dog, nuzzling about on a drizzly afternoon. From lazy dogs curled up by the fireplace to audacious hounds howling at the moon, from mutts to purebreds, puppies to old dogs, Doggerel is an irresistible gathering of fast and faithful friends.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Everyman's Library (October 21, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 140004037X
• ISBN-13: 978-1400040377
• Product Dimensions: 4.3 x 0.7 x 6.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #470,149 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Carmela Ciuraru is the author of NOM DE PLUME: A (SECRET) HISTORY OF PSEUDONYMS, forthcoming in hardcover from HarperCollins.

She has edited several anthologies for Alfred A. Knopf/Everyman's Library and for Scribner, including Solitude Poems, Motherhood Poems, Beat Poets, and First Loves. She is a member of the National Book Critics Circle, PEN American Center, and the Authors Guild, and has written for publications such as the Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, The San Francisco Chronicle, The Boston Globe, The Washington Post, The New York Observer, The Wall Street Journal, Newsday, O, The Oprah Magazine, Vogue, Interview, Spin, Bookforum, and Tablet, and she writes a culture blog for ReadyMade.

You can visit her website at www.carmelaciuraru.com

[AUTHOR PHOTO CREDIT: Pieter M. van Hattem]

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Dog's Life in Poetry..., July 10, 2006

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HR mgr (Philadelphia PA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Doggerel: Poems About Dogs (Everyman's Library Pocket Poets) (Hardcover)

A delightful little book filled with poems about mankind's best friends. Much of the verse was unfamiliar and a pleasant surprise. Not the most weighty of poetry, perhaps, but charming. Why only 4 stars? Because, like many pups, it was too short!