These Are My Rivers: New & Selected Poems, 1955-1993 [Paperback]

Lawrence Ferlinghetti (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Combining a Whitmanesque celebration of the earthy with a nod to the surrealist tradition, Ferlinghetti (Wild Dreams of a New Beginning) blasted his way into public consciousness with the 1958 publication of A Coney Island of the Mind, marking him as one of the Beat poets, though his more refined poetic sensibility showed just how different he was from what "Beat" came to mean. This compendium of work from throughout his career, including 27 new poems, reveals an ongoing interest in matters political and sexual. Unlike Ginsberg, whose Collected Poems showed an artist struggling with decline and decay, Ferlinghetti seems to maintain his calm in the face of age; "The Rebels," from a 1984 collection, shows a remarkable stylistic similarity to his famous 1958 "Constantly Risking Absurdity." But where the latter poem borders on a now-cloying self-consciousness, the former shows a subtle reflectiveness in the face of nature, as well as a recognition of his connection with readers. Regardless, it's exciting to revisit in one volume work like "I Am Waiting," "An Elegy on the Death of Kenneth Patchen" and "Endless Life" in this collection by one of America's most popular poets.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Reading this hefty selection from 12 previous volumes, plus 50 pages of new poems, we realize how accurately the poet described himself in 1979: a man who "thinks he's Dylan Thomas and Bob Dylan rolled together with Charlie Chaplin thrown in." Ferlinghetti is the foremost chronicler of our times, continually in the front lines with an elegy or antiwar poem (this collection opens with a poem written after the murder/suicide in Waco, Texas). His style is recognizable throughout--phlegmatic poems running several pages, often lacking stanza breaks, with short lines at the left margin or moving across the page as hand follows eye. He can break into a list or a rhyme. Though humor comes through in his play on words and his ability to toss in literary tidbits at inappropriate moments, it isn't all fun and games; selections from his 1984 volume show a meditative eye as the poet watches young Parisians while nostalgic about his own youth. Essential.
- Rochelle Ratner, formerly Poetry Editor, "Soho Weekly News," New York
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 308 pages
• Publisher: New Directions (December 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0811212734
• ISBN-13: 978-0811212731
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #414,866 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Lawrence Ferlinghetti, poet and founder of City Lights Books, author of A Coney Island of the Mind and Pictures of the Gone World, among numerous other books, has been drawing from life since his student days in Paris where he frequented the Academie Julien and where he did his first oil painting.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Total Bliss..., December 21, 1998

By 

Matt Norris ([e-mail]) (Longview, TX) - See all my reviews

This review is from: These Are My Rivers: New & Selected Poems 1955-1993 (Hardcover)

This collection of poems from Ferlinghetti opens the mind due to it's variation of poems from over the years. His style has remained the same yet we see a different side of Ferlinghetti with each era of poems. This was very enjoyable and I recommend it highly.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This compilation is fantastic!, January 8, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: These Are My Rivers: New & Selected Poems, 1955-1993 (Paperback)

I bought this book after seeing Ferlinghetti speak at my school in New Hampshire. He was fantastic, and his book is even more so. Buy it!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Buddha in the Poet, May 14, 2007

By 

Michael P. Crowley (Cranston, Rhode Island United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: These Are My Rivers: New & Selected Poems, 1955-1993 (Paperback)

The new poems that begin this collection are wonderful; the voice is strong and sure with rich, fresh images and allusions that explode in all kinds of directions. the poems give me a chance to say, "Oh, I get that." or most of it.
I haven't gotten to the selected poems from all of his books, but I know it will be fun to read poems I haven't read in years.
This volume should be a must read for young rebels and writers; should be right up there on the shelf with On The Road and Howl