Customer Reviews

Love Poems by Women: An Anthology of Poetry from Around the World and Through the Ages

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

 

 

This book is one of my literary treasures. I have opened it often--to practice saying the unsayable, quoting poems and lines to create a unique friendship bond and also to offer comfort (and righteous anger) in the wake of a broken heart, and to simply gain an introduction to some wonderfully worthy poets.

Its simple and forthright appearance belies its impact. An unreserved 5 stars.

I also heartily recommend The Ink Dark Moon: Love Poems by Ono No Komachi and Izumi Shikibu, Women of the Ancient Court of Japan; Fried Green Tomatoes by Fannie Flagg; Burning Your Boats: The Collected Short Stories (of Angela Carter); The Awakening and Selected Stories (by Kate Chopin); and collected or selected poetry by Dorothy Parker, H.D. [Hilda Doolittle], Sappho, Sara Teasdale, Amy Lowell, and Emily Dickinson.

Thank you for reading my review.

A wide range of poetry from every point in history and every country on Earth (well not literally). The brief synopsis of each poetess's life and historical context in the biographical notes section makes this book especially rich. I adore it.

This anthology looks at the broadest possible definition of a "love poem" -- there are poems to lovers & husbands, poems to mothers & children, poems to nations & political figures, poems to nature & God. They also cover the wide range of emotions that a person in love experiences: passion, jealousy, heartbreak, bitterness, contentment, fulfillment, joy, grief, devotion, regret, hope, etc.

I think it's kind of pointless to name-check some of the writers compiled in this anthology, because the true beauty of it are all the little gems by writers you will have never heard of. I'm not going to say that I adore every single poem the book contains, but it definitely opened the door to several writers that I would not have otherwise encountered.

I was disappointed with this volume. The title said implied that these were "love" poems, but it seems that the most of them were poems about what jerks males were. Although I am sure that many, if not most, males are jerks, writing a poem about it does not really make it a love poem. Nevertheless, it was quite interesting to see what a great many women really feel about the men in their lives. One plus is that poems were included from many different times and cultures that allows one to get a broader perspective on the subject, however.