Ps3569.L3: Poems (Poetry) [Paperback]

David R. Slavitt (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Taking its title from the author's Library of Congress number, the poems collected here resound with smugness. Slavitt (Epic and Epigram, Louisiana State Univ., 1997) takes refuge in form, albeit in unusual (and sometimes sloppy) patterns; as he says in "The Exigency of Rhyme," "It distracts the mind to allow/ for an openness, somehow/ holding a thought but not/ being held by it or caught." His dominant theme, the presence of the Almighty in a profane contemporary landscape, quickly becomes repetitive. Slavitt's secondary theme is history, evidenced by a long, inane sequence linking warmongers with deserts. A similar blending of past and present works far better in "Reading Pindar," a whimsical piece based on a thorough reading of Pindar's texts. This is book number 60 for the noted poet, essayist, and translator, and for that alone he deserves our admiration and respect. Such voluminous output does not, however, provide the emotional intensity many poetry readers prefer. Recommended for academic libraries with an interest in Slavitt's other work.?Rochelle Ratner, formerly Poetry Editor, "Soho Weekly News," New York
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Poetically, Slavitt is on a roll, following The Gift (1996), his lively verse biography of Mozart's librettist da Ponte, with incandescent translations of Sixty-one Psalms of David (1996), the Renaissance humor and satire of Epic and Epigram , and now a set of original and translated poems whose title is the basic LC classification number for his poetry. Satire and wit are the dominant modes here, reflecting the wry worldliness Slavitt may have absorbed from all the urbane Romans he has translated. Yet like many a classical Latin author, Slavitt deeply respects love (see "Feet: An Anniversary Nonet," for his wife), God (as in "Smart Remarks," in which epigrams become prayers), and home (thus, "Northern Renaissance" apologizes for those great provincials, Rembrandt, Hals, and Vermeer). Historical and legendary figures--Helen of Troy, the Comte de Nesselrode, James V. Forrestal--are often Slavitt's subjects, reminding us that one of literature's crucial functions is as a kind of transcendent gossip about everyone who ever was. A most rewarding, most literate collection. Ray Olson --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 96 pages
• Publisher: Louisiana State Univ Pr (September 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0807123013
• ISBN-13: 978-0807123010
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,702,543 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Poetic relevance, June 12, 2000

By 

Terry L. Welch - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ps3569.L3: Poems (Poetry) (Paperback)

Here, Slavitt has once again shown that our modern society can still support the weight of serious poetry. Mixing humor and _gravitas_ simultaneously, he also combines the past with the present and the personal with the universal. Doesn't every person wonder how he or she will be remembered -- as a name (like Pindar) or as a number upon a shelf?

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Playful and Intelligent, January 26, 2008

By 

Okla Elliott (Columbus, OH United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ps3569.L3: Poems (Poetry) (Paperback)

PS3569.L3's title is taken from the beginning of the Library of Congress number for Mr. Slavitt's books, of which there are quite a few at this point. The title poem is a fun-loving and self-deprecating meditation on literary success.

This book is of an aesthetic whole -- the tone of which is set by the playful title. The poem "Tryma", addressed to the speaker's granddaughter, is a word-playing bit of advice on how to be one's self in face of pressures from peers and classmates, but it also serves as a dictum on how to insist on one's own poetic vision. And as Joyce Carol Oates has written of Slavitt, "he is his own man, his own poet."

There is also a section of "Translations, Imitations, and Caprices" which includes translations from Christian Morgenstern, Giacomo Leopardi, and Horace, as well as witty and downright fun ruminations on Pindar and others.

And then there's the religious meditations -- "Adam", "Paradise Lost: an Alternative Version", "Wonder Rabbi", "Invocation", and others. These are some of the finest in the book, as Slavitt is perfectly at home with religious material (due at least in part to his having translated much of the Bible, Ovid's Metamorphoses, and other ancient/religious texts).

In the final analysis, this is a book worth owning and revisiting. I recommend it highly for both lovers of poetry and the generally educated/interested reader.

3 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Doggerel, Inept, April 6, 2000

By 

Pat (Midwest, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ps3569.L3: Poems (Poetry) (Hardcover)

Mr. Slavitt's self-serving and unevocative poems remind us of the worst kind of boys' club stasis in the universe of university poets. His Princetonian arrogance and pathetic fastidiousness to formal concerns veil a kind of poetry that isn't courageous enough to admit to its own solipsism. His poetry hides behind savvy meterical and musical concerns, but ultimately holds little for any hungry reader.

In the title poem, Slavitt asks the reader to take sympathetic interest in how tiresome his own literary fame has become. The call number PS 3569 .L3, "...spreads its way along the shelf / and is what I may someday call myself." It's unfortunate, I think, that this book has insinuated itself into the world of letters, and I should eagerly look forward to its evaporation.