Customer Reviews

The Language of Life (BBC Radio Presents)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

It is almost impossible to please everyone with a collection. Why was this poet included? Or you included him/her and didn't include this poem... Are you insane? The benefit of an anthology is that it can introduce the reader to poets that they may otherwise never come in contact with. To that end, I am thankful to Moyers for introducing me to the work of James A. Autry and Lucille Clifton. I also enjoyed many, but not all, of the interviews. This was a good book. If you are interested in poetry but aren't sure where to start, this collection will introduce you to a wide variety of styles. I am sure you will find something you like, and it will be worth the effort.

*The Language of Life: A Festival of Poets* with Bill Moyers was shown on Public Television and captivated a wide audience. When I watched it, I was thrilled! Bill Moyers has, as usual, done an incredible job, and I love the fact that he has helped to bring the magic of poetry to more people. I loved the PBS documentary so much that I purchased a copy of both the book and the audio-book... *The Language of Life* is so good, so entertaining, so interesting, that you'll want to experience it many times. You'll discover something new each time. I'm a poet, so this book was ideal... I can read the poems (or hear them, in the poet's own words, if via the audio book) and then get an in-depth look at the poem by listening in on Moyers as he conducts an interview. Actually, it's more like a chat with old friends in a way, because Moyers' style is so friendly. He asks good questions, really getting to the meat of the matter, and it's clear that the Festival's poets feel comfortable with him. I felt as though I was there sitting with them, having a cup of tea. Writing is a solitary profession, but I was reminded that we writers all deal with the same core issues. And it's good to hear how others find their inspiration, their space, etc. This book is also great because even people who don't read poetry will enjoy it... in fact, might realize they love poetry. Friends of mine who thought of poetry as something stuffy that really pale people read while sitting in dusty attics (wearing black, of course)ended up liking it a lot. Moyers and the poets he meets show the reader that poetry is just another form of human expression... one that is truly the language of life.

With Moyer's ability to ask the right questions, he extracts some wonderful interveiws from these poets about their lives and their work. It is obvious that Moyers knows their work, and most of the poets chronicled show their appreciation by granting some candid interviews. I was particularly moved by Donald Hall and Jane Kenyon's sections. (They were husband and wife poets, until Jane Kenyon passed away recently.) It was a treat to read about poets whose work with I was unfamiliar, such as Lucille Clifton. I also enjoyed learning about Rumi, a thirteenth century mystic whose work is translated and performed by Coleman Barks A good read if you want to learn more about the soul of a poet, or if you just want to brush up on your modern poetry.

Looking back on this book, I guess it's that I wanted to like it so much more than I did. What a great concept! Take a variety of modern poets, interview them and get them talking about their works alongside the poetry. Now you see the expectations in such a book to poetry lovers everywhere. But after owning the book for 7-odd (and they have been) years, I rarely find myself going back to it after the initial read. Why is that? Let me try to tell you.

Moyers indeed takes a variety of poets to interview, from recognized greats such as W.S. Merwin, Rita Dove, Donald Hall, Adrienne Rich, Ocatavio Paz to name a few to lesser known (at least to me) poets such as, Garrett Kaoru Hongo, Dekou Sundiata, and Mary Tall Mountain. Some of the interviews are fascinating as one would expect them to be. But the majority of them drag on. Instead of making the language come alive, the power of the poetry is diluted when it is talked about. Give credit to Moyers for attempting the project and to opening up his purview beyond the academically accepted greats and beyond strictly English-writing poets. For that Moyers is to be commended, but the end effect leaves the reader wanting for more.

I have gotten so much more from any on the "Best American Poetry" series or a little known poetry compilation called "The Generation of 2000," for the sheer love of poetry and learning about poets, than Moyers' book. As for non-English poets, buy the bilingual editions (Paz's collected poems, Neruda's selected poems, etc) even though you don't speak or understand the original language. It's a must to see and hear how the poetry was intended to sound and also be able to read it in a language you understand.

The companion book to Moyers' PBS series "The Power of the Word" and "The Language of Life," which brought to a national audience the vigorous living poetry of a number of contemporary poets from the U.S. and abroad. Poetry is not the dead old thing critics like Harold Bloom and Helen Vendler would have us believe it is: this series, and this book, puts it into the ears and mouths of the people, to our betterment.

I feel certain that Bill Moyers is a journalist, not a poet. At least, that's what he claimed when he wrote a book entitled "Moyers On America: A Journalist and His Times!" Now he's written a book called "The Language of Life: A Festival of Poets." It's a reprint. Somehow I missed it the first time around.

As its title suggests it is a collection of poetry by poets. So I opened the book. Lo and behold, the second chapter is a conversation with James A. Autry whose book "Looking Around for God" is like a "fleck of foam" that "floats in the air," to use some of the imagery of this book. I thought that Autry was retired from his career in Des Moines, Iowa, managing Meredith Publishing Group, a Fortune 500 company. Even in this conversation, though, he offers his poetry to us all even though he isn't a poet.

That's a bit strange, I think. Here I am, one who has a hard time distinguishing between prose and poetry, reading about a conversation about poetry between a journalist, who isn't a poet, and a business man, who isn't a poet, but writes poetry. I am even enthralled by reading the prose of their conversation about poetry.

To make bad matters worse, I haven't gotten beyond this second conversation and here I am recommending that you buy and read this book. In Autry's book, to which I referred above, he said that he was "looking around for God." He may not know it because sometimes God can be found in "divine hiddenness" and you aren't likely to find what is hidden. But some manifestation of God is in on this conversation. While Autry is "looking around for God," my word to him and his conversation partner is, "Quit looking!" God can be found in many of these very conversations. Talk about "festival of poets!" Gary Snyder says poetry comes "blundering over the boulders at night" and he goes "to meet it at the edge of light!" And standing there on "the edge" is, maybe God, or is it poetry? There may be no difference. Then there is the name Brian Swimme used to "name the Name." Allurement.

Enthralled, allured, captivated, astounded, captured -- I am all these and I recommend you read this book and surrender yourself to whatever or whoever you meet at the edge. I have chosen to fling myself over the edge into the abyss with the hope that something or Someone will snatch me back, put me on the edge again where I can shout or even scream poetry into the wind!

ok...i tell u why i love this book...or let's say audio cassettes.
well,when i started listening to these cassettes i got this weird feeling of being invloved in every single story they said, starting imagining the poets themselves. the way the music was displayed and the characters introduced..i was just overwhelmed.
maybe i am not an expert in english poetry but i enjoyed this collection BIG TIME!!

This book is a fascinating anthology of interviews with thirty-four diverse poets from across vastly different cultures who share information on their craft, the source of their inspiration to write poetry, and discuss specific poems, usually the ones they are best known for. In doing so, they reveal very intimate information about their lives, their hopes, and their past with such vividness that one feels part of the discussion. This is not a book for specific technical detail on how to write poetry such as form or rhythm or rhyme, but more about what motivates and inspires poets and how the mind of a poet works, what makes him or her tick.

Also, by the end of this nearly 450 page book, one realizes the genius of Bill Moyers as an interviewer. Through the hundreds and hundreds of questions you don't get the feel of repetition. The questions he asks in the last chapter are as fresh as the ones in the first. He has a way of posing a probing question, then stepping away and letting the poet take the stage. Often, you can almost feel the dreamy or pensive look in the poet's eyes as he or she sets to answer the question, revealing so much of interest and value in the process. The questions are straightforward, short, and perceptive. Moyers mentions at various points that though he appreciates poetry, he himself has never been capable of writing it. Thus, he includes the novice explorer of poetry in his journey of discovery walking side by side with him, rather than towering far above. Often, he asks very direct questions about the poet's choice of specific words on a poem or his or her intention in using a particularly interesting line or phrase - and the reader thinks, 'that's exactly what I wanted to know!'

The poems are chosen for their accessibility, not their complexity. So there are no abstruse discussions here. But what the book lacks in academic weight, it more than makes up for in clarity and honesty and directness. You believe these poets, what they are saying, and what they stand for. You are moved, thrilled, appalled. You can identify with them. In most cases the poems are autobiographical, based on the poet's actual experiences, sometimes fascinating, sometimes tragic, but in all cases very, very real. No banal descriptions here about a pearly white moon; but there is a chilling poem about a Latin American warlord who spills onto a table cut-off human ear from a grocery bag - an eyewitness account by the poet when she was serving as a journalist in war-torn El Salvador. Another, a woman resistance fighter in the Nicaraguan rebel army, carries her poetry with her in her backpack during the fighting. Most personal accounts are not quite so gruesome or dramatic, but they talk about settings and issues familiar to many of us - family, sickness, death, discrimination, injustice, violence.

Many of these voices are probably not mainstream, but together they bring to us the unique flavor of modern America. This is a very touching and revealing work, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It is a great starting point to introduce the wary or nervous novice, intimidated and confused by daunting and difficult poems, gently into not-so-threatening places in the world of modern poetry. I wish there were a second book to lead the intermediate reader deeper into the realms of poetry and the mind of the poet.

I hope you love this book as much as I did.

Bill Moyers is an admirable thinker, so one must be careful to distinguish that the low quality and worth of the ideas in this book are attributable to the poets, not to Moyers himself. Almost all of the poets express themselves in the usual vague and cliched generalities of what they conceive poetry to be -- "Life," "Soul," "Eternity," "Love," "Beauty," etc. Of all the poets interviewed here, only Adrienne Rich (a poet with whom I have many aesthetic differences) sounds as if she has a head on her shoulders. It's no coincidence that the poets represented here also write terrible poetry, again with the exception of Rich.

A worthy read, if you are looking for a general intro into modern poetry. Probably better off just buying a good poetry anthology, though. Few things can be as tiresome as poets yammering on about poetry. Does a terrible job highlighting the works of truly experimental and avant garde writers. Clearly the poets were chosen as much on their accessibility as they were their talent. Gods forefend if one might actually have to think their way through a poem, or - gasp! - not understand it!