The Buried Houses (Nicholas Roerich Poetry Prize Library) by David Mason  (1)
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Ludlow by DAVID MASON (5)
$12.89
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Arrivals by David Mason (3)
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After the Lost War: A Narrative by Andrew Hudgins (8)
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The Poetry of Life: And the Life of Poetry by David Mason (4)
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Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Mason's second collection (after The Buried Houses) features the title poem, which won the The Poetry Society of America's DiCastagnola Award. This 1300-line family and national saga is narrative poetry at its best. Told in the distinct voices of a father, Lt. Mitchell, and his daughter, Mrs. Maggie Gresham, it spans from 1830 to 1960 and deals with the frontier's lure, westward migration, the Civil War (dominating half the poem) and the modernization and urbanization of America. Mason's rhythm is simple but mesmerizing in the way of good storytelling: " 'All wars are... fought by boys,' " says Lt. Mitchell, quoting Melville as read to him by Maggie. Then he adds: "And I saw schoolkids torn apart by bullets,/ their heads bashed in by Confederate rifles./ And I saw Yankees do a thing or two/ to make those people hate us all their lives." After the family of eight moves west to Oregon, Maggie leaves home at 29, marries at 37, lives in four cities and ends up a childless widow in L.A.: "They say to grow old without children is/ a curse, and sometimes I believe it's true.../ I have a niece who comes/ and takes me for a drive out by the sea/ and shows me how the city's spreading out/ clear to the mountains." Following this poem, a model of narrative scope combined with poetic compression, are 12 short works, notably a three-sonnet sequence and six elegiac narratives.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
These are poems of memory, personal or historical or, in the magnificent poem that gives its title to the collection, both. That long work is subtitled "A Narrative" but is actually two stories--the interwoven autobiographical monologues of a very old woman and a very old man who are daughter and father. Her recollections begin when he moved the family to Washington Territory after the Civil War, when she was little; his, in Tennessee during that war. His memories, including incarceration in Confederate prison camps, are brutal but tender; hers, self-assertive but reflective. Mason conveys their recollections in a relaxed blank verse artfully appropriate to the two characters, who both love poetry; and in them, Mason creates two splendid, believable late pioneer Americans--forebears to be proud of. The short poems that conclude the book are most effective when seeming closest to the poet's own life and never more so than in two elegiac pieces recalling a brother's death. Ray Olson --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
See all Editorial Reviews
Mason's second collection (after The Buried Houses) features the title poem, which won the The Poetry Society of America's DiCastagnola Award. This 1300-line family and national saga is narrative poetry at its best. Told in the distinct voices of a father, Lt. Mitchell, and his daughter, Mrs. Maggie Gresham, it spans from 1830 to 1960 and deals with the frontier's lure, westward migration, the Civil War (dominating half the poem) and the modernization and urbanization of America. Mason's rhythm is simple but mesmerizing in the way of good storytelling: " 'All wars are... fought by boys,' " says Lt. Mitchell, quoting Melville as read to him by Maggie. Then he adds: "And I saw schoolkids torn apart by bullets,/ their heads bashed in by Confederate rifles./ And I saw Yankees do a thing or two/ to make those people hate us all their lives." After the family of eight moves west to Oregon, Maggie leaves home at 29, marries at 37, lives in four cities and ends up a childless widow in L.A.: "They say to grow old without children is/ a curse, and sometimes I believe it's true.../ I have a niece who comes/ and takes me for a drive out by the sea/ and shows me how the city's spreading out/ clear to the mountains." Following this poem, a model of narrative scope combined with poetic compression, are 12 short works, notably a three-sonnet sequence and six elegiac narratives.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
These are poems of memory, personal or historical or, in the magnificent poem that gives its title to the collection, both. That long work is subtitled "A Narrative" but is actually two stories--the interwoven autobiographical monologues of a very old woman and a very old man who are daughter and father. Her recollections begin when he moved the family to Washington Territory after the Civil War, when she was little; his, in Tennessee during that war. His memories, including incarceration in Confederate prison camps, are brutal but tender; hers, self-assertive but reflective. Mason conveys their recollections in a relaxed blank verse artfully appropriate to the two characters, who both love poetry; and in them, Mason creates two splendid, believable late pioneer Americans--forebears to be proud of. The short poems that conclude the book are most effective when seeming closest to the poet's own life and never more so than in two elegiac pieces recalling a brother's death. Ray Olson --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
See all Editorial Reviews
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Inside This Book Citations: This book cites 3 books | 6 books that cite this book Explore: Citations | Concordance | Text Stats Key Phrases - CAPs: Libby Prison, Old Betty, Santa Rosa Browse Sample Pages: Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover | Surprise Me! |
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