Collected Poems: Edited by Frank Bidart and David Gewanter; Introduction by Frank Bidart

 
Collected Poems: Edited by Frank Bidart and David Gewanter; Introduction by Frank Bidart
Collected Poems: Edited by Frank Bidart and David Gewanter; Introduction by Frank Bidart
by Authors: Robert Lowell , Frank Bidart , David Gewanter
Released: June, 2003
ISBN: 0374126178
Hardcover

Sales Rank: 9,962
List price: $45.00
Our price: $27.00 (You save: $18)
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Collected Poems: Edited by Frank Bidart and David Gewanter; Introduction by Frank Bidart > Customer Review #1:
Lowell All Over Again

This is probably the most important collection published in America since Wallace Stevenss 1954 Collected Poems. Although after the publication of Elizabeth Bishop and James Merrills collected poems Lowells position no longer seems as pre-eminent as it once did, no poet of his era more intimately captured the uneasy spirit of the Fifties and Sixties. Ginsberg spoke more directly for the disaffected, but Lowell captured the larger unease of America and made it his own, dominating his age as few poets ever have. His voice is unmistakable. His best poems retain their original vitality, and even his weakest poems remain unique in their flaws. Everyone with the slightest interest in poetry will want to own this book.

Collected Poems: Edited by Frank Bidart and David Gewanter; Introduction by Frank Bidart > Customer Review #2:
One Of The Publishing Events of 2003,

Robert Lowell, one of the latter 20th centurys most popular poets, seems to have recently dropped off the radar. This is probably partially due to a critical point of view which has emerged, stating basically that Lowell was a product of his time and has now beem outmoded.

This book should dispel that feeling.

One need only look back on a poem like Memories Of West Street And Lepke from Life Studies to realize that even if, in a hundred years, someone reads this having no idea who Lepke was, the poem could still be enjoyed. It is the poem itself, as Helen Vendler said in a round-about way, which makes the mark.

Despite the hefty price tag on this volume, if youre interested in Lowell, you should own this book. Theres things here which simply cannot be found elsewhere: his first, and never again published Land Of Unlikeness, magazine versions of poems later revised in their book forms, poems in manuscript which Lowell never finished. Aside from the poems (which a dogged individual could track down in their book forms with Amazon and Alibris), its these bonuses which make the volume special, and change that price tag from wow-thats-a-lot to its-not-such-a-big-deal.

To say that if youre a Lowell fan you should by this book is wrong. I should say, if youre a poetry fan. This was a man who changed poetry forever. And aside from this historical aspect, they are some of the finest poems ever written.



 
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