Customer Reviews

Poetical Dictionary (Abridged)

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This small but potent tome is pure joy, a delight through and through and through once more for good measure. Each entry proffers an apropos universe: liquid flows; bleak is a bit barren; bulwark, rather difficult to navigate; oyster is, well, briny; etc. This is a dictionary as it should be, meaning and sense seamlessly wed. Startlingly smart, thorough throughout (etymologies, pronunciations, charts and tables all included), at times quite beautiful, always joyful: this book offers language lovers a supreme luxury.

This is a surprisingly light book of poetry. I would have expected any other 'poetical dictionary' to be unmeasured, overly heady, weighty. In Lohren Green's book it is clear however that the writer has an uncanny, exhilirating knowledge of words and of what he calls their 'cosmos'. This makes it delightfully easy and light to read, like putting on a summer dress for the first time after a long English winter.

Not being used to reading poetry I found the Poetical Dictionary really amazing and approachable. Poems are structured in the form of a dictionary (pronunciation, etymology, and definition), so you always have a general idea of what the poem is trying to convey. And the best thing is that you get to experience words in a totally new way that makes complete sense but that you hadn't thought about before. Reading this book feels like being at a cool party surrounded by interesting people.

Heard about this book while listening to a Daniel Coffeen Rhetoric lecture on the UC Berkeley Podcast site. I recommend them both. :)

With great wit and intelligence, this book refreshes the traditional dictionary by revealing the interior life of words--the distinctive styles and contours that lie beneath their denotative meanings. Regular dictionaries tell you what words mean; this one shows you how they feel, and, particularly, how they delight. Rising to the challenge when the going gets toughest (e.g., abstract entries like "affect" and "concurrence"), the author is completely at home in crafting this alternate lexical universe. Front and back matter, including an illuminating preface (not to mention marvellous illustrations), complete the dazzling effect. Keep it next to your Webster's and OED.

and perhaps I am not as qualified as others to make a review of this nature. I love poetry and literature from a layman's perspective. As such, I came into this purchase with certain expectations. Primary among them was that this would be organized like a dictionary with relevant poetry under each heading. That is not at all what this is, and as such it was useless for someone like me with limited time. This may be great for the person that has the time to meander through its pages, but for a person looking for a ready reference work there may be better choices.

Lohren Green knows how to put words together beautifully; he distinguishes himself in his unusual ability to take them apart first, one by one. He starts from acrobatics, ends at zoological garden. Some of my favorites: clumsy; doodle; doom; hand; pixel; room. Example: "veer"
[etymolgy, then four poetic definitions]

1. swerves
at an abruption
the heaviness of
momentum moving forward
(see inertia, tractor-trailer, thrust), or
heads decisively aslant;

....

This book has a strange, beautiful accreting human logic. The whole idea of a poetical dictionary is of course absurdly grandiose, so the humility and humor in this book is welcome to balance its great intelligence and creativity. I think this is a book you keep around your bedside, to keep consulting before and after dreams.