9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
"Let men say what they will.", January 22, 2004
This review is from: Gay Love Poetry (Paperback)
This collection of poems of love, longing, sadness,
rejection, and mourning for lost loves (those who have
died, and those who have gone away...) is a very fine,
but uneven, expression of the range of thought and
emotion which can encompass relations between male
and male -- on the erotic and the psychological level.
The editor, Neil Powell, has divided the poems into
six groupings under the titles: Nature Boys -- Street
Life -- Lads' Love -- As It Is -- Borderlines -- In
Memoriam. Within each grouping, the poets and their
poems are presented in chronological order. As the
editor points out, he has included poems going back
as far as eighth century B.C. and has "allowed 'love'
to encompass as wide a range of affectionate relation-
ships as possible." Each grouping is preceded by an
Introductory Note, which contains very interesting
insights or thoughts to ponder. Here is something
from the section titled "Lads' Love" -- "Love poetry --
regardless of sexuality -- has always had a natural
inclination to celebrate the beauty and desirability
of subjects who are significantly younger than their
admiring authors (also regardless of the fact that
the young are ignorant, vain, selfish, unreliable...)."
That's certainly a surprising insight to share with
readers of a collection of love poetry, espcially
for a group, which as a whole, puts such a
premium on youth, looks, and sensuality -- usually
over sense.
The poets include Theocritus, Virgil, Sir Philip
Sidney, Christopher Marlowe, William Shakespeare,
Walt Whitman, John Addington Symonds, Oscar Wilde,
C.P. Cavafy, Wilfred Owen, Solon, Alcaeus, Catullus,
Martial, Strato of Sardis, Michelangelo, Lord Byron,
Homer, and Alfred, Lord Tennyson among the famous --
and a convocation of the lesser known, but no less
feeling and thoughtful trekkers of the quest.
To my own taste, some of the poems seem uneven
in quality -- and the tone of many of them seems
"artificial" -- stagey -- though some of them overcome
that "staged-effect" quality to become quite humane,
telling, and heart-felt.
The poems of the classical authors are often presented
with the translations by famous authors themselves,
such as John Dryden as translator of Virgil's pastorals,
Solon translated by J.A. Symonds. Each of the six
sections may contain poems by previous poets in other
sections, so the representations are fuller in
giving voice to many facets of the same poets.
All in all, this is an excellent collection, especially
for the novice reader or even the more experienced
reader and liver of male-love-related themes.
"Catching up with each other halfway to where we're
going / any day is a likelihood, and an unexpected
extra." -- Peter Daniels. from: "Liverpool St."
-- Robert Kilgore.
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