- Hardcover: 286 pages
- Publisher: W. W. Norton & Co.; 1st ed. edition (24 Jan 2001)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0393050300
- ISBN-13: 978-0393050301
- Product Dimensions: 24.6 x 16 x 2.7 cm
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,114,056 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
Stanley Kunitz's collected poems are an unassailable argument for age, experience and impassioned observation. America's 10th poet laureate has many decades' worth of work under his belt, and his lyrics form a fine self-portrait even as they track his evolution toward the spare and simple. With considerable wit, he sees into the life of things: a brook or a bird, a squirrel or a salmon is very much a part of nature, but it is also infinitely more.
Kunitz's "Reflections", which preface his Collected Poems, offer several modest credos. In one, he writes, "I like to think that it is the poet's love of particulars, the things of this world, that leads him to universals". His work is ample proof that what Kunitz likes to think is right! In "Robin Redbreast", for instance, the poet--living in an empty house that will soon be his no longer and facing nothing but blank pages--rescues a bird from some belligerent jays:
It was the dingiest bird / you ever saw, all the colour / washed from him, as if / he had been standing in the rain, / friendless and stiff and cold, / since Eden went wrong.Alas, a moment's complacency at his own good deed comes to a quick end. There is no need for the poet to drive home his point--he merely provides the tragic image of an old bullet hole in the robin's head, through which he catches a glimpse of "the cold flash of the blue / unappeasable sky". Yet Kunitz did not arrive at this level without effort, and much of the pleasure of this volume lies in witnessing the growth of the poet's mind.
Several of Kunitz's finest, and most desolate, poems explore his father's suicide, which took place before he was born. Others, on Mark Rothko and Alexander Calder, celebrate creation in the face of immense difficulty. And there are poems, too, of resistance: this generous collection includes translations of Mandelstam, Akhmatova and Blok, as well as his own "Around Pastor Bonhoeffer", which commemorates the pacifist cleric who was part of the plot to kill Hitler. In "The Layers", the poet asks point-blank: "How shall the heart be reconciled / to its feast of losses?" Reconciliation, Kunitz knows, isn't possible, but his work proves that the raptures of love and art are a strong consolation. --Kerry Fried
Review
[P]erhaps the most distinguished living American poet.
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6 reviews
44 of 45 people found the following review helpful
60 Years of Masterful Poetry that Speaks to Heart,Mind,Soul
27 Oct 2000
Format:Hardcover
A lifetime magnum opus and a must-have volume of mastercrafted verse that stirs heart, mind and soul. Here is what former publisher Henry Holt had to say in 1945: "In recent years, Stanley Kunitz has become recognized as one of the most original and thoughtful of our newer poets. His work is not simple, but mature, directly spoken and vigorous." The same could be said now 55 years later. Here is a morsel to whet the appetite:
An agitation of the air, A perturbation of the light
Admonished me the unloved year Would turn on its hinge that night.
I stood in the disenchanted field Amid the stubble and the stones Amazed, while a small worm lisped to me The song of my marrow-bones.
Blue poured into summer blue, A hawk broke from his cloudless tower, The roof of the silo blazed, and I knew That part of my life was over.
Already the iron door of the north Clangs open: birds, leaves, snows Order their populations forth, And a cruel wind blows.
Older than Thomas Hardy (87) or Robert Frost (88) when still writing and publishing quality poetry (now 95 and counting), this is over half a century of incredible textures, tones, colors,imagery, metaphor, soulful expression in stirring lines making what Yeats called "words set to life's music". If this doesn't light your fire, go find your wood!
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
For the endurance alone - a triumph of the human spirit
20 May 2005
Format:Hardcover
These 'Collected Poems of Stanley Kunitz' were put together when the poet was ninety- five years old. He now is approaching one - hundred and his birthday will be celebrated this year, also with another collection of his poetry.
There are many reasons for wanting to read such a collection. First of all, it is interesting to see what a person has done in the course of a lifetime of work. As I understand it Kunitz evolved in style from a complex Blakean kind of writing to a more mature and simple style in which personal elements and reflections play a stronger part. Secondly, it is interesting to understand the accumulated ' wisdom' not simply in relation to his own literary craft but also about life and love in general. It is also interesting to see the kind of universes and worlds a person explores in their lifetime, in Kunitz's case these are of course many of the giants of English poetry, but his interests are also in activities like gardening,Jewish mystics, Russian poets of this century, and of course the passions of romantic love.
I think that there is something also here which is especially admirable. Faithfulness to the task, the dedication and the ability to work through many years, is a triumph of the human spirit.
This gives an added dimension to the enjoyment of the poetry.
There are many reasons for wanting to read such a collection. First of all, it is interesting to see what a person has done in the course of a lifetime of work. As I understand it Kunitz evolved in style from a complex Blakean kind of writing to a more mature and simple style in which personal elements and reflections play a stronger part. Secondly, it is interesting to understand the accumulated ' wisdom' not simply in relation to his own literary craft but also about life and love in general. It is also interesting to see the kind of universes and worlds a person explores in their lifetime, in Kunitz's case these are of course many of the giants of English poetry, but his interests are also in activities like gardening,Jewish mystics, Russian poets of this century, and of course the passions of romantic love.
I think that there is something also here which is especially admirable. Faithfulness to the task, the dedication and the ability to work through many years, is a triumph of the human spirit.
This gives an added dimension to the enjoyment of the poetry.
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Read This Collection of Poems Even If You Don't Read Poetry
7 April 2003
Format:Paperback
I heartily recommend this book of poems, and I especially recommend it to the reader who never or rarely ever reads poetry. What a treat is in store for you.
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