Customer Reviews

Selected Poems

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People are correct to name Fenton as Auden's successor-- but by no means does Fenton live in Auden's shadow. Though much of Fenton's poems are centered on themes he saw first hand as a journalist in many conflicted states, this does not limit readability to those with an interest in war. A German Requiem is, I think, the most powerful poem I have ever read. I would recommend this slim volume to anyone who is interested in modern poetry, and it is a volume I revisit fairly regularly.

with quatrains and ballads, fenton startles in the true tradition of the ballad, the song, the pastoral setting and the blood tragedy. he updates the blood tragedy by tearing from notebooks of war correspondents and journalists in vietnam, tiananmen square, cambodia and iran. he writes of children thrust from innocence to become victims or killers.

between old poems and new poems, fenton has included a verse libretto, The Love Bomb, which is a pretty good story about a religious cult.

the new poems, his recent work, speak of personal love, romantic love.