This collection of the most beloved and brilliant poems from Howard Nemerov's fruitful career also introduces twenty-three new poems in a section entitled "Trying Conclusions." Written during his tenure as the nation's Poet Laureate, these new poems are imbued with vivid intelligence, an irreverent sense of humor, and masterful wit—trademarks of the Nemerov legacy.
FREE Two-Day Shipping for Students. Learn more |
| ||||||||||||||||||
Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
In wry poems wary of the world they celebrate, National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize winner Nemerov confronts life with insouciant defiance. His measured compassion embraces butterflies that "regret their closed cocoons," the full professor's predicament ("now he has become one of his betters") and callow girls "talking of lovers, maybe, and of love: / Not that blind life they'd be the mothers of." A social critic, he writes witty, scathing, irreverently funny or profoundly philosophical verses about the daily grind, sex, marriage, pornography, modern literature, Santa Claus ("annual savior of the economy") and whether poetry is capable of changing the world. This generous selection includes new poems written since his 1988 appointment as poet laureate; they are of varying quality, a few ranking with his finest.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
Like the ancient poets he describes in "The Makers," the recently deceased Nemerov was one of the "great listeners, attuned/ To interval, relationship, and scale." He was a student of patterns, mythic, natural, and behavioral: the "intricate dependencies/ Spreading in secret through the fabric vast/ Of heaven and earth." By and large a formalist in style, he nevertheless interpolated a truly American diction and easygoing wit reminiscent of Mark Twain and Will Rogers. Something of a fatalist ("Stories already told a time ago/ Were waiting for us down the road, our lives/ But filled them out"), Nemerov stood undeceived but not smug, wondering at our "many destinies." His is a poetry--like Robert Frost's--that brings us back to the world's plain and intermittent good.
- Fred Muratori, Cornell Univ. Lib., Ithaca, N.Y.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.
- Fred Muratori, Cornell Univ. Lib., Ithaca, N.Y.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
More About the Author
Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.
Customer Reviews
|
There are no customer reviews yet.
|
|||
|
Video reviews
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Tag this product(What's this?)Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organize and find favorite items. |
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
