Collected Poems 1947-1997 (Paperback)

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Counterculture icon, beat apostle, Buddhist chanter, heir to William Blake, unapologetic explorer of intoxicating substances, world traveler, political protest leader, celebrant of gay sex, chronicler of New Jersey Jewish heritage and of Lower East Side post-hippie bohemians, Ginsberg (1926–1997) became by the midpoint of his career the most famous American poet of his era. At first hardworking and tormented, later on a spontaneous, welcoming mentor, the writer who in Howl (1956) "saw the best minds of my generation starving hysterical naked," and who mourned his psychotic mother in the wrenching title poem of Kaddish (1960) kept creating entertaining (if not quite so innovative) poems, for almost three decades after he rose to fame. This first complete collection of Ginsberg's work reproduces his 1980 Collected Poems—including all the extensive notes: here are "Howl" and "Kaddish" and the great anti–Vietnam War poem "Wichita Vortex Sutra"; here too are the poems about Prague and Cornwall, Benares and Shanghai and the Australian outback, the songs and chants in quatrains (with sheet music) and the unashamed odes to beautiful young men. This complete edition adds White Shroud (1986), Cosmopolitan Greetings (1994) and the aptly titled Death and Fame: Last Poems (2000). A hefty, vivid and important tome, it should remind us just how much Ginsberg accomplished. (Oct.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review

"Taken all together, Ginsberg's poems are X-rays of a considerable part of American society during the last four decades." (The New Yorker )

"If you want to read Ginsberg's poetry, you should go straight to the source. COLLECTED POEMS 1947-1997 gathers everything." (Los Angeles Times )

"Ginsberg's poems are reminders that those who face a culture's disapproval can approve themselves." (The Progressive )

"The volume gathers for the first time all the published verse of...poet Ginsberg...A history...of a turbulent time." (Salt Lake City Tribune )

"Sooner or later, anyone interested in American poetry must embrace Allen Ginsberg." (Houston Chronicle )

"he wrote any number of splendid, singular poems that no other American poet of our age was capable of penning." (San Diego Union-Tribune )

"A...brilliant volume that shows Ginsberg...to be not only a legendary protest writer but also a lyric poet." (New York Times )

"Essential.COLLECTED POEMS.is easily the best of the bunch.Some 50 years later, Ginsberg's talent still glows on paper." (The Post and Courier )

"The mammoth new COLLECTED POEMS, 1947-1997 places Ginsberg firmly among the most prolific poets of the age." (Washington Post Book World )

"The COLLECTED POEMS" are the ultimate statement on Ginsberg's art." (Chicago Tribune )

"There's a lot to like...the current volume testifies to the poet's scope and indefatigable energy." (Chicago Sun-Times )

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 1216 pages
• Publisher: Harper Perennial Modern Classics (October 9, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0061139750
• ISBN-13: 978-0061139758
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 2.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #140,148 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ginsy's Collected Poems, November 18, 2006

By	taogoat (the mothership) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Collected Poems 1947-1997 (Hardcover)

I just finished reading Ginsberg's collected poems, 1947-1997 -- fifty years and over a thousand pages of poetry. My overall impression is that he was probably the kindest, most moral member of the beat generation. When the other beats were penniless & borrowing money, Ginsberg was the one they borrowed money from. Corso would steal Ginsberg's manuscripts and sell them to used book dealers to score heroin, and each time Ginsberg would walk down to the book dealer and buy back his priceless words. Where Kerouac preached his own version of buddhism and gave it up a few years later for alcoholic catholicism, Ginsberg remained a dedicated student of buddhist compassion to the end of his days.

And that's what shines thru in many of these poems -- compassion, attention to the present, and the courage to be so honest about his life and his feelings. Many of these poems are raw, experimental, informal, and spontaneous, almost like journal entries. He wrote numerous classics -- Pull My Daisy (written with Kerouac & Cassady in 1949), Howl, America, Kaddish, Mescaline, Lysergic Acid, Wichita Vortex Sutra, Wales Visitation, Elegy for Neal Cassady, and Memory Gardens (elegy for Jack Kerouac), among others.

Some of the most common themes are world travel, nature, daily events, progressive politics, the US invasion of Vietnam, the peace movement, road trips, drug use, the beats, gay sex, hinduism, buddhism, death, and love. In other words, Ginsberg wrote about his life. He talks about his friends dying, his father dying, his mother's insanity and death, his loves, his joys, and whatever is pressing and interesting to him at the moment. Some of the poems are better than others, but I can't imagine there's a more honest poet out there.

Casual readers of the beats will likely want to skip around and read a poem here, a poem there, just checking out the highlights. But even for casual readers, there's no sense in buying Ginsberg's small City Lights books -- just buy this big book so you can have it all.

21 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Poetry Five Stars, of Course but..., November 21, 2006

By	John A. Gregorio (Castalian Springs, TN) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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This review is from: Collected Poems 1947-1997 (Hardcover)

Americans who can't name five poets will name Allen Ginsberg. In this case, that is good since he was one of America's Greatest Poets. This book attest to this.
I write this review to show disappointment in the publisher who continues to publish the collected works on the cheapest paper next to newsprint.
For the next edition, I would like to see, at least in limited edition, a volume printed on quality paper which could last more than a few years before turning yellow.
Ginsbergs deserves better treatment.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Allen Ginsberg was a genius..., November 17, 2008

A Kid's Review

This book contains almost all of Ginsberg's poetry. If you are one of those people that must have all of his poems, a great purchase would be The Book of Martyrdom and Artifice. It is his journals and early poems from 1937-1952. You will have every poem that he wrote and his journal. Also, you can buy his book of letters too.