Human Wishes (American Poetry Series) [Paperback]

Robert Hass (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In his third collection of poetry, Hass ( Praise ), National Book Critics Circle Award winner for criticism, writes elegiacally of the "dizzying sensation" of physical experience, and of natural beauty, "casual and intense," to which words correspond but from which they are innately divided. "A man thinks lilacs against white houses . . . and can't find his way to a sentence," Hass reflects, observing the suffusing "radiance" of bodily perception and impelled to evoke it as faithfully as possible, though language inevitably alters what it describes. The transience of the physical, perceived in the "mortal singularity of the body," heightens the quiet drama of the poet's mission, represented powerfully in poems conveying that "life has its limits"--most poignantly in love, where men and women "are trying to become one creature, / and something will not have it." Feeling that they "are an almost animal, / washed up on the shore of a world," and seeking their completion, humans, in Hass's subtle, searching meditations, must follow the course of their own implacable rhythms, whatever utopia they wish for.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Hass, 1973 winner of the Yale Series of Younger Poets Award, here shows that he has continued to mature as a poet willing and confident enough to allow his richness of vision and command of language room to expand beyond the limits of the shorter line. Except for the haiku-like "Cuttings," the poems are mostly prose pieces whose longer lines work to his advantage by leading from description to statement or by sustaining a meditative movement. Hass talks to us about himself, his family, and his world--a very human place, circumscribed by the shortcomings in all our lives yet accessible to transformation by nature. Details stand out: a hand-rolled cigarette, flecks of plum on a child's face. To follow his mind in such discourse is to stroll rather than scamper or leap about. With a consistent voice Hass leads us ". . . to the bottom of the raveling."-- Francis Poole, Kentucky Wesleyan Coll., Owensboro
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 96 pages
• Publisher: Ecco (June 1, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0880012129
• ISBN-13: 978-0880012126
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.6 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #479,709 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Robert Hass was born in San Francisco in 1941. He attended St. Mary's College and Stanford University. His books of poetry include Time and Materials, for which he received the Pulitzer Prize in 2007 and the National Book Award in 2008; Sun Under Wood, for which he received the National Book Critics Circle Award in 1996; Human Wishes; Praise, for which he received the William Carlos Williams Award in 1979; and Field Guide, which was selected by Stanley Kunitz for the Yale Younger Poets Series. Hass also worked with Czeslaw Milosz to translate a dozen volumes of Milosz's poetry, including the book-length Treatise on Poetry and, most recently, A Second Space. His translations of the Japanese haiku masters have been collected in The Essential Haiku: Versions of Basho, Buson, and Issa. His books of essays include Twentieth Century Pleasures: Prose on Poetry, which received the National Book Critics Circle Award for criticism in 1984, and Now and Then: The Poet's Choice Columns, 1997-2000. From 1995 to 1997 he served as poet laureate of the United States. He lives in northern California with his wife, the poet Brenda Hillman, and teaches English at the University of California at Berkeley.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Seminal Work of Contemporary Poetry, June 2, 2004

By 

Juan Mobili (Valley Cottage, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Human Wishes (American Poetry Series) (Paperback)

I must begin by saying that Robert Hass' body of work is without many rivals in the world of contemporary American poetry, thus to call this book his "most accomplished" -which I wholeheartedly believe- is not to say that the rest of his poetry volumes are not wonderful and, in some cases, stunning.
Still, "Human Wishes," in my opinion, stands out as a work of delicate craft and compassionate thoughtfulness. Hass achieves something extremely uncommon -among modern poets, of course, and so much rarer among our politicians!- he conveys strong conviction without smearing you with righteous rhetoric.
Each of his poems invites you to enter his vision gently but not without requiring you to engage your heart, and risk whatever borrowed ideas one may call one's view, for the sake of attaining a new depth of thinking and seeing.
Poems like "Paschal Lamb," an extraordinary example of his prose poems, show this conclusively. I can honestly say that reading -and often re-reading- this poem, has changed me. What may appear at its beginning to be a scholarly meditation on the idea of the "sacrificial lamb," moves beautifully to a reminiscence of passionate young friends dealing with the Vietnam War, and becomes a moving reflection on how regular human beings could change the world. So, ultimately, this poem achieves all three: it is a meditation on sacrifice, a reminiscence of people with strong ideals, and powerful proof of the transformational capacity of language to have us see and engage with life, more deeply.
Now, of course, that is just one of this many, gorgeous gifts in this collection. This volume is full of great poems, for instance "Human Wishes," "The Privilege Of Being," "A Story About A Body," or "Tall Windows" which, each in its own way, are remarkable in their gentle wisdom and unassuming, flawless craft.
It is important to note that, in Robert Hass' case, words I chose to describe his work such as "delicate" or "gentle" are, by no means, chosen to convey fragility nor mild manners. Mr. Hass' words manage a different kind of strength, of fierceness even, without raising their voice nor sounding alarms to convey their urgency.
Robert Hass has been an inspiration to me as a fellow poet, and as a human being earnestly attempting to live an authentic life.
Lives not unlike the people he speak of in "Privilege Of Being", who, at times, may live their lives ...

[...] clutching each other with old, invented
forms of grace and clumsy gratitude, ready
to be alone again, or dissatisfied, or merely
companionable like the couples on the summer beach
reading magazine articles about intimacy between the sexes
to themselves, and to each other,
and to the immense, illiterate, consoling angels."

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars On Hass, December 31, 2002

By 

Flounder (Substitution Instance) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Human Wishes: Poems by Robert Hass (Hardcover)

Robert Hass (UC Berkeley, English Dept.) is a wonderful poet and teacher. Human Wishes demonstrates that he is one of the most interesting poets on the scene today. His verse is vibrant and energetic. I highly recommend this collection of poems. Also, Hass has done much to introduce poetry to the general public.

Hass is a Northern California poet who has an eye for subtle movements in the natural world. Whether his setting is Tacoma, WA or Mt. Tamalpais, he always manages to capture images of life at its most fundamental source. For example, in "Spring Rain": "...the light will enlarge your days, your dreams at night will / be as strange as the jars of octopus you saw once in a fisherman's boat / under the summer moon...."

The strongest work here is the prose poems, such as "Museum" (describing a couple at a Kathe Kollwitz exhibit), "Human Wishes" ("This morning the sun rose over the garden wall and a rare blue sky leaped from east to west"), "Tall Windows," and "The Harbor at Seattle."

Also, the third section of this little book contains some gems, such as "Misery and Spendour," "Santa Barbara Road," and "Berkeley Eclogue."

Hass loves word craft and the spirit that inhabits diverse poetic voices. His enthusiasm and zeal for the 'poetic' is much felt in this rich, little volume. In reading Hass, one feels as if the printed page could crawl or even perhaps fly away with the beautiful life that is found there.

I also recommend: C. Milosz, R. Jeffers, and A. Zagajewski.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Human Wishes, February 16, 2004

By 

Travis L. Michael (Huntington, WV United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Human Wishes: Poems by Robert Hass (Hardcover)

I feel in debt to Robert Hass for this illustrious collection of poetry. I happened to be browsing a local bookstore one day a few years ago, and some strange impulse (the like of which I usually disregard) provoked me to purchase it. I was just out of high-school then, and wasn't too familiar with how emotionally engaging "free verse" could be. In fact, it took me a little while to absorb his words so that I could feel the true significance of them. Hass paints his poetry with tiny, delicate brush-strokes, and is very uncompromising in what he is trying to say. This is what I've come to adore about free verse: you can use the word that most accurately portrays what you're trying to say, without worrying about rhyme.

Hass often sheds light on the subtle (and often overlooked) undercurrents of daily life. For instance, take this dialogue between an adult and a very young child from "Santa Barbara Road," one of my absolute favorites:

"Household verses: "Who are you?"
the rubber duck in my hand asked Kristin
once, while she was bathing, three years old.
"Kristin," she said, laughing, her delicious
name, delicious self. "That's just your name,"
the duck said. "Who are you?" "Kristin,"
she said. "Kristin's a name. Who are you?"
the duck asked. She said, shrugging,
"Mommy, Daddy, Leif."

Very simple, yet it perfectly illustrates how, from a very young age, were taught to search for our identities semantically; in the narrow labels that are given to us.

But enough of my rambling, just buy the book.