This contains Aiken's own choice of the best and most representative of his poems, spanning more than forty years of work. For this edition, Harold Bloom will contribute a new foreword to reintroduce Aiken to a new generation of readers. The Aiken estate has selected several pivotal poems from other volumes to add to the reissue.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
Review
"If you read and enjoy Conrad Aiken, then you have been in search of authentic poetry, and you have found it."--from the Foreword by Harold Bloom
"This new, shapely edition of the poetry of Conrad Aiken is an invitation for us to listen to him again and perhaps this time to hear beneath the romantic nuances of his music a distinct and emphatically modern voice."--Billy Collins, Poet Laureate
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
About the Author
Conrad Aiken is an American poet, short story writer, critic and novelist. Harold Bloom is the author of several books, including The Anxiety of Influence, A Map of Misreading, and most recently, Genius. He is Sterling Professor of Humanities at Yale University and Berg Professor of English at NYU.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
39 of 39 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
a neglected master...,
This review is from: Selected Poems (Paperback)
Most readers know Conrad Aiken, if they know him it all, for "Silent Snow, Secret Snow," a chilling portrayal of childhood insanity. But he was also an accomplished novelist (see "Blue Voyage" with its gorgeous stream-of-consciousness and "A Heart for the Gods of Mexico," a slightly disguised portrait of Malcolm Lowry)and a major poet whose life's work dwarfs that of Eliot in terms of sheer size and rivals Pound's in its learnedness, albeit a learnedness that is not displayed so feverishly as is Pound's in The Cantos.
It's not surprising to me that this volume has basically come and gone without anyone noticing it (I bought mine out of a remainder catalogue), but it's still disheartening. Because this is major poetry by a major poet who would be a great discovery for younger readers if they were encouraged to read him. Aiken often has a tone reminiscent of the early Eliot and many of the poems in this volume (especially "Senlin...")are reminiscent of Profrock with an added vein of mysticism that is his link to Emerson, Thoreau, Melville and other purveyors of the American Sublime. All of the poems are finely crafted--some in free verse, some loosely rhymed, some in tight forms--and display a beautiful feeling for rhythm, both explicit and implicit, and the long musical line. His images are striking, his range of ideas fascinating. He is never less than arresting and often inspired. My own favorites are "Landscape West of Eden," "Blues for Ruby Matrix," the aforementioned "Senlin: A Biography" and "Tetelestai," a gorgeous elegy that is the equal of the "out of the cradle, endlessly rocking...." section in Leaves of Grass. Harold Bloom,in his very good introductory essay, tells why Aiken matters. But I must disagree with him on the subject of Aiken's eloquence, which he considers to be the fatal flaw separating Aiken from greater poets like Stevens and Crane. To me this eloquence is precisely Aiken's strength. If more modern poets had been less interested in modelling consciousness than in analyzing it and extracting its elusive essences--yes, even sometimes extracting the ore of eloquence from the dross of momentary chaos--poetry might still have an audience. Aiken wrote at a time when there was still a bond between poet and audience and cultural inclusivity was attempted on a scale unimagineable today. These poems are not only excellent in themselves, they are potent reminders of how powerful and daring poetry once was and how germane to audiences outside the realms of academia.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Reading of Senlin's "Morning Song",
By
This review is from: Selected Poems (Paperback)
My first and probably only video review. I think it important for poetry lovers to hear the sound of Aiken's musical poetry. I hope my English accent does the American poet justice.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Selected Poems,
By
This review is from: Selected Poems (Paperback)
I love this book.I bought it because my 2nd cousin read a poem at my Aunts memorial service.It's called "Discordants" and now I'm enjoying the rest of the poems
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