Love and Scorn: New and Selected Poems [Paperback]

Carol Frost (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Saturated in "viscera, anatomy," in chthonic desires, mythic parallels and "overwhelming regret," Frost's (Venus and Don Juan; Pure) headlong free verse displays an admirable energy, but not much formal or intellective control in this selection from seven previous books, and in two groups of new short poems. Seeking rawness and power, Frost turns to readily available storiesAGenesis, The TempestAand to other American poets who've shared her ambitions: sometimes she fails to build on her borrowed foundations; often, she fails to escape melodrama: "I've grieved and walked in catacombs," one speaker declares, "I've made myself ill with the power and the glory." (In another poem, "Burdock" explains "I'm here... to tell you there is satisfaction, even when I die.") Elsewhere, in the manner of the later Robert Penn Warren, Frost deploys fortissimo religious symbolism: figures meant for immediate shock or sublimity ("young murderers on last night's news/ went like angry angels... as if to mock the eternal Coming"), words like "extraordinary," "unsayable" and "death and joy." A long sequence of 11-line poems with abstract titles returns to categorical basics such as "Harm," "Apology," "Envy," "Sex," "Imagination" and "The Tree of Knowledge, your favorite scene": their loping, extended, abstract and unrhymed phrases will appeal to fans of C.K. Williams. If few whole poems satisfy their formal demands, many include striking bits and pieces: it will be hard to forget the key moment in "Sin," for instance, when "The blue and scarlet sky/ was gently losing its color,// as if from use." (Mar.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Frost chooses an interesting arrangement for her ninth collection (including two chapbooks): the first section presents new poems on such subjects as Venus, the St. Louis Zoo, and the komodo dragon; the second section features only very short poems (11-19 lines); and the final section, a well-rounded introduction to her work, offers a winnowing of her earlier poems arranged alphabetically by title. In these poems, Frost combines an interest in abstract themes with elements from the natural world. Her poems work best when ideas are fleshed out with vivid imagery as in "Pear Tree": "And if in the ditch beside the pear tree I find/ a quatrefoil of buttercup/ and a deerhead/ on its stripped spine like a keyboard from a dismantled piano ." All of the shorter poems tackle intellectual themes, as their mostly one-word titles suggest: "Envy," "Harm," "Compatibility," "Apology," and "Scorn." Some of these fail to involve the reader because they deal in generalities, and the emotional distance seems too great, as in "Laws": "She knows of doom only what all women know,/ deciding not to speak of it, since speech pretends/ its course can be made to bend." But when Frost ties in these abstract themes with real-life details, the poems become more vivid and moving as in "Pure": "He saw that the white-tailed deer he shot was his son;/ it filled his eyes, his chest, his head, and horribly it bent on him." Recommended for larger poetry collections.
-Doris Lynch, Monroe Cty. P.L., Bloomington, IN
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 130 pages
• Publisher: Triquarterly; First Edition edition (April 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0810150999
• ISBN-13: 978-0810150997
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #918,553 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Stark and beautiful, deep and inscrutable, April 12, 2000

By 

B - See all my reviews

This review is from: Love and Scorn: New and Selected Poems (Paperback)

There isn't much I can say about these poems in the way of explantion--that is, not without taking away any of the lingering resonance that they exude upon the reader. I will tell you that this is truly great, original poetry, written in lines that, though they are often quite free free verse, rank very highly on the memorability scale. Carol Frost, I assure you, will someday be considered a great and important poet, a poet of nature, bodies, myths--and with this book of new & selected poems, she is well on her way. Reading her work is a sometimes humbling experience, though it will leave you grateful.

Let me leave you with a half dozen or so of my favorite pieces: "Waking," "Flicker," "Sin," "Pure," "Scorn," "Apple Rind," "To Kill a Deer."

4 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Frost's Dazzling Mystery and Directness, May 4, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Love and Scorn: New and Selected Poems (Paperback)

Carol Frost's poetry really speaks to me. It is full of mystery--the mysteries of love, beauty, death, surprise, cruelty, art--yet at the same time is dazzlingly direct. Each of her best poems, and there are many, leaves an indelible scar. If you love poetry you can't afford to ignore this book!

4 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Book Jacket Copy by Donald Justice, April 18, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Love and Scorn: New and Selected Poems (Paperback)

"LOVE AND SCORN is highly original work. The poems are hard-felt and new, with surprises around every corner. Carol Frost is a realist, a realist of excitements and exaltations. She is one of the three or four best of her generation." --Donald Justice