Going Out With Peacocks and Other Poems [Paperback]

Ursula K. Le Guin (Author), Ursula K. Le Guin (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Our foremost woman of letters in fantasy and science fiction here undertakes an album of gracious verse. "Fire, Water, Earth, Breath," the first section in this collection of 54 poems, offers a "bright flood" of imagery about "the Pacific Slope" (i.e., Portland, Oregon), while "Fury and Sorrow" presents hard-bitten poems about child pornography, domestic abuse, torture, and other grim topical subjects. ("Werewomen," a poem about the strange urges of "women in their sixties," is wonderful.) Poems in "Kith and Kind" explore domestic issues, and the last section, "Dancing on the Sun," which is dreamlike and imaginative, urges the reader to accept the transformation of ordinary concerns into "difficult, painful dances" that lead to spiritual revelation: "you have to leap/higher and higher into the dark,/until you somersault to sleep." This lonely, half-mysterious, intellectual collection is another jewel in the crown of a leading fantasy-science fiction writer. For public libraries with a large Le Guin readership.
Frank Allen, West Virginia State Coll., Institute
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Le Guin is irresistible: passionate, humanitarian, sensuously aware of the world's vitality. This book's contents can be relatively evenly divided into poems about nature from which political concerns are not utterly absent and poems about political concerns from which nature is never completely absent. Many poems in the first category have an Asian quality, a delicate sense of surprise at the world's unique beauties. Many in the other are harsh without being strident; they are leavened by compassion. Le Guin's poetic voice is clear and lyrical; her many fans will not be disappointed. Pat Monaghan --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 96 pages
• Publisher: Perennial; First Edition edition (June 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060950579
• ISBN-13: 978-0060950576
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.2 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,641,913 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not the best poetry, but Ursula is still distinctive, June 24, 2000

By 

Sam N. Keyes - See all my reviews

This review is from: Going Out With Peacocks and Other Poems (Paperback)

Like her prose, Le Guin's poetry is thoughtful: every word is magical, reflecting the sort of dependency on words that exists in her Earthsea books. This belief in the primacy of language certainly makes her a better writer. I would never compare this poetry to any of the great "poets" (although her prose is a different matter), but there are in this book many beautiful nuggets that anyone could respect, not just someone who loves Le Guin like I do.