Customer Reviews

Lucky Life (Classic Contemporary)

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I have always been impressed with poets who are not only good and prolific at what they do, but also attempt a greater project--an idea of more significant proportions than can be encompassed in a single poem, or even in a small group of poems; one that perhaps requires and entire volume of poetry to fulfill, and a lifetime of writing to reach and understand. Many poets have strived beyond the limits of simple poetry--beyond the possibilities of a single poem, or even a body of poems--to create a poetry that is fundamentally important; that is more deeply searching and interrogating than is asked, or even expected, of a fine or prodigious poet. Such poets have a project, whether discreet and subtle, or thunderingly apparent. In the twentieth century, we may look at Ezra Pound's "Cantos" as an example, or John Berryman's "Dream Songs" an another, and perhaps more ambitiously, Charles Olson's "Maximus Poems", as examples.

With his first major publication, "Lucky Life", Gerald Stern was beginning on a course of intense exploration, and interrogation, of the Self caste into the world. Perhaps it is Gerald Stern's project to create a poetry with a new language of feeling and thinking, and which gives new meaning to the language we already possess. His poems, while filled with a language of grief and sadness, also point to the inevitable possibility of joy and hope within human experience. In one line, Stern's poetry permits the expression of both total loss and complete redemption, almost simultaneously. His poetry is complex, but direct, never confusing the issues at stake in the poem. The personae he uses in his poems are not of key issue--nor is the Self of the poet--but rather, the larger issues which they point to. When present in a poem, Stern uses himself almost as a launching pad into the world around him.

There are many gods in Stern's poetry; gods who often caste long shadows over the characters that people Stern's poems. Yet, in the midst of crisis, Stern's characters seem to find a way out from under the shadow, and embrace the pure luck of being alive in the first place. Stern's recognizable voice unites the poems in every book from "Lucky Life" to 1997's "This Time", his collection of new and selected poems. Stern's project is one of modern humanism, an attempt to recover the self from often senseless damage of the world, while at the same reveling, wide-eyed, in all its beauty and magic. His poetry presents a formadible belief in the ability of human beings to cleanse themselves, and all the lovely possibilities for redemption and reconciliation. With "Lucky Life", Stern began a new poetry with a contemporary consciousness. His humanism does not deny God, anyone of them--though his, the poet's, is the God of the Jews--but permits a remarkable search for faith and God in all the wonders of humanity, both terrible and beautiful. Of course, there is often failure, but sometimes we get lucky

I have always been impressed with poets who are not only good and prolific at what they do, but also attempt a greater project--an idea of more significant proportions than can be encompassed in a single poem, or even in a small group of poems; one that perhaps requires and entire volume of poetry to fulfill, and a lifetime of writing to reach and understand. Many poets have strived beyond the limits of simple poetry--beyond the possibilities of a single poem, or even a body of poems--to create a poetry that is fundamentally important; that is more deeply searching and interrogating than is asked, or even expected, of a fine or prodigious poet. Such poets have a project, whether discreet and subtle, or thunderingly apparent. In the twentieth century, we may look at Ezra Pound's "Cantos" as an example, or John Berryman's "Dream Songs" an another, and perhaps more ambitiously, Charles Olson's "Maximus Poems", as examples.

With his first major publication, "Lucky Life", Gerald Stern was beginning on a course of intense exploration, and interrogation, of the Self caste into the world. Perhaps it is Gerald Stern's project to create a poetry with a new language of feeling and thinking, and which gives new meaning to the language we already possess. His poems, while filled with a language of grief and sadness, also point to the inevitable possibility of joy and hope within human experience. In one line, Stern's poetry permits the expression of both total loss and complete redemption, almost simultaneously. His poetry is complex, but direct, never confusing the issues at stake in the poem. The personae he uses in his poems are not of key issue--nor is the Self of the poet--but rather, the larger issues which they point to. When present in a poem, Stern uses himself almost as a launching pad into the world around him.

There are many gods in Stern's poetry; gods who often caste long shadows over the characters that people Stern's poems. Yet, in the midst of crisis, Stern's characters seem to find a way out from under the shadow, and embrace the pure luck of being alive in the first place. Stern's recognizable voice unites the poems in every book from "Lucky Life" to 1997's "This Time", his collection of new and selected poems. Stern's project is one of modern humanism, an attempt to recover the self from often senseless damage of the world, while at the same reveling, wide-eyed, in all its beauty and magic. His poetry presents a formadible belief in the ability of human beings to cleanse themselves, and all the lovely possibilities for redemption and reconciliation. With "Lucky Life", Stern began a new poetry with a contemporary consciousness. His humanism does not deny God, anyone of them--though his, the poet's, is the God of the Jews--but permits a remarkable search for faith and God in all the wonders of humanity, both terrible and beautiful. Of course, there is often failure, but sometimes we get lucky