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The Collected Poems of Wendell Berry, 1957-1982 Paperback – April 1, 1987

by Wendell Berry (Author)

15 customer reviews

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A longtime spokesman for conservation, common sense, and sustainable agriculture, Wendell Berry writes eloquently in several styles and methods. Among other literary forms, he is a poet of great clarity and sureness. His love of language and his care for its music are matched only by his fidelity to the subjects he has written of during his first twenty-five years of work: land and nature, the family and community, tradition as the groundwork for life and culture. His graceful elegies sit easily alongside lyrics of humor and biting satire. Husbandman and husband, philosopher and Mad Farmer, he writes of values that endure, of earthy truths and universal imagery. His vision is one of hope and memory, of determination and faithfulness. For this far-reaching yet portable volume, Berry has chosen nearly two hundred poems from his previous eight collections.

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Editorial Reviews

Review

"Wendell Berry's poetry is a validation of his decision nearly twenty years ago to give up the literary life in New York and seek a deeper bond with his ancestral home, a hillside farm in Henry County, Kentucky, on the Kentucky River. His straightforward search for a life connected to the soil, for marriage as a sacrament and family life, affirms a style that is resonant with the authentic . . . He can be said to have returned American poetry to a Wordsworthian clarity of purpose."--The New York Times Book Review

"Berry is one of those rare individuals who speak to us always of responsibility, of the individual cultivation of an active and aware participation in the arts of life, be they those of composing a poem, preparing a hill for planting, raising a family, working for the good of oneself and one's neighbors, or loving."--The Bloomsbury Review

"For all his earthiness, Mr. Berry is a sophisticated, philosophical poet in the line descending from Emerson and Thoreau . . . Ranging from the 'known' to the 'celestial,' from rich concreteness to prophetical intonations, Mr. Berry's Collected Poems establishes him as a major poet of our time."--The Baltimore Sun

"[Berry's poems] shine with the gentle wisdom of a craftsman who has thought deeply about the paradoxical strangeness and wonder of life."--The Christian Science Monitor

About the Author

Wendell Berry is a Kentuckian who wrote and taught in California and New York before returning to the Kentucky River region where he has lived for two decades, writing and farming on seventy-five acres in Henry County. Mr. Berry has emerged as an eloquent spokesman for conservation, common sense, and sustainable agriculture, topics he has pursued in The Unsettling of America, The Gift of Good Land, and Meeting the Expectations of the Land, which he co-edited with agricultural researcher Wes Jackson and conservationist Bruce Colman. He has also written of the Kentucky River country in his novels, including Nathan Coulter and A Place on Earth, and in the short story collection The Wild Birds. Among his collections of literary essays is Standing by Words, an exploration of language as both a source of confusion and a means to understanding. North Point Press has also published Mr. Berry's collections of poetry, A Part and The Wheel, and his collection of essays, Home Economics: Eighteen Essays.

Product details

Paperback: 288 pages
Publisher: North Point Press; 4th edition (April 1, 1987)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0865471975
ISBN-13: 978-0865471979
Product Dimensions: 5 x 0.8 x 8 inches
Shipping Weight: 12.6 ounces
Average Customer Review: 15 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #760,533 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #417 in Books > Christian Books & Bibles > Literature & Fiction > Poetry
- #3922 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Poetry > Regional & Cultural > United States
- #23806 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Religious & Inspirational

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15 customer reviews

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Patricia Kramer

Love, Land and Liberation

May 17, 2005

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Wendell Berry's influence seeps through and sustains our land. I had read his stories of Port William. I was led to this book of poetry by a poem's mention in the Afterword in William Greider's "The Soul of Capitalism". In the latest issue of "The Land Report", Wes Jackson quotes from a letter from Wendell Berry that 22 years later led to a conference titled "Toward an Ignorance-Based Worldview".

Some of the poems in this book describe the wonder of and need to fight for true everyday love. They are some of the most moving love poems I have ever read. Many talk about the land and the continuity of its people and history that comprise a place and community. No one speaks better on this topic.

Then there are the Mad Farmer Liberation Front poems. Read this one and head out in a new direction.

Manifesto:The Mad Farmer Liberation Front

Love the quick profit, the annual raise,

vacation with pay. Want more

of everything ready-made. Be afraid,

to know your neighbors and to die.

And you will have a window in your head.

Not even your future will be a mystery

any more. Your mind will be punched in a card

and shut away in a little drawer.

When they want you to buy something

they will call you. When they want you

to die for profit they will let you know.

So, friends, every day do something

that won't compute. Love the Lord.

Love the world. Work for nothing.

Take all that you have and be poor.

Love someone who does not deserve it.

Denounce the government and embrace

the flag. Hope to live in that free

republic for which it stands.

Give your approval to all you cannot

understand. Praise ignorance, for what man

has not encountered he has not destroyed.

Ask the questions that have no answers.

Invest in the millennium. Plant sequoias.

Say that your main crop is the forest

that you did not plant,

that you will not live to harvest.

Say that the leaves are harvested

when they have rotted into the mold.

Call that profit. Prophesy such returns.

Put your faith in the two inches of humus

that will build under the trees

every thousand years.

Listen to carrion-put your ear

close, and hear the faint chattering

of the songs that are to come.

Expect the end of the world. Laugh.

Laughter is immeasurable. Be joyful

though you have considered all the facts.

So long as women do not go cheap

for power, please women more than men.

Ask yourself; Will this satisfy

a woman satisfied to bear a child?

Wil this disturb the sleep

of a woman near to giving birth?

Go with your love to the fields.

Lie easy in the shade. Rest your head

in her lap. Swear allegiance

to what is nighest your thoughts.

As soon as the generals and the politicos

can predict the motions of your mind,

lose it. Leave it as a sign

to mark the false trail,. the way

you didn't go. Be like the fox

who makes more tracks than necessary,

some in the wrong direction.

Practice resurrection.

19 people found this helpful

Comment

Robert R. Mendenhall

Just exquisite!

February 22, 2006

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

I first met Wendell Berry through his prose, but I soon discovered his poetry as well. One definition of poetry is that it is the use of exactly the right words -- no more, no less. If that is so, then Berry is surely a master, and he writes with such uncommon grace and wisdom. His phrases are beautifully crafted, musical, picturesque. For example, his "Boone" features this magnificent gem: "the light leaned quiet on the trees." Wow! This splendid book is one to which you will return again and again.

6 people found this helpful

Comment

March 17, 2018

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

The product was as advertised and arrived in a timely way.

Comment

everything... it's all dear to my heart ...

June 16, 2018

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

everything...it's all dear to my heart!

Comment

Like many collected works

June 6, 2016

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

Like many collected works, each time I read Berry I find at least one poem that I connect with. Some chapters resonated better than others for me which was helpful in deciding which of his other poetry books to buy or not buy.

Comment

Happy with purchase and vendor

April 18, 2015

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Item as described,arrived quickly. Happy with purchase and vendor.

Comment

May 27, 2014

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Wendell berry is one of my two favorite American poets. Mary Oliver is the other one. Their words speak volumes. And they are preachable.

2 people found this helpful

Comment

October 24, 2009

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

I've long been a fan of Wendell Berry. This book of his poems is a great addition to my collection.

One person found this helpful

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