Sailing Alone Around the Room : New and Selected Poems
|
 |
|
Sailing Alone Around the Room : New and Selected Poems
by Authors:
Billy Collins
Released: 17 September, 2002
ISBN: 0375755195
Paperback
Sales Rank: 2,381
|
List price:
$13.95
Our price:
$11.16
(You save: $2.79)
|
|
|
|
|
Book > Sailing Alone Around the Room : New and Selected Poems > Customer Reviews:
|
|
|
|
|
Average Customer Rating: 
Sailing Alone Around the Room : New and Selected Poems >
Customer Review #1:
 This Is Guy Is The Real Thing, I Kid You Not...
Billy Collins is a poet of body and soul, someone who knows the bite and pleasure of a turn of phrase that enlivens like a shot of pretty-good Irish whisky. "American" is too narrow a designation for poems whose aim is to direct us to the truly human--the whimsical and the sorrowful, the oddly-tough animal underlying that humanity. For those who, like Collins, have the mantle and designation of "master poet" bestowed upon them repeatedly the trick is to earn that praise. Billy Collins has certainly earned whatever well-intentioned men and women may say of him, especially the good: his is a finely honed voice and, at times, that voice wickers into a wonderfully quirky track of experience that never excludes the accidental and fleeting. One cannot say enough about such good and decent men, or their works.
Sailing Alone Around the Room : New and Selected Poems >
Customer Review #2:
Great Poems
Billy Collins previous works have been bestsellers, a rare achievement in poetry publishing. He is one of a rare breed-a popular poet. Billy Collins is the current poet laureate of the United States. His previous collections include The Apple that Astonished Paris, The Art of Drowning, and Questions about Angels.
Sailing Alone Around the Room combines poems from all his previous collections as well as a few new ones. It is, in effect, a "greatest hits book". Collins is a poet who does not specialize in any one topic. His inspiration for poems seems to come from reflection and everyday life. The poems he writes about everyday life are not simple. They incorporate simile and metaphor, and give the readers brain some exercise.
This compilation of previously-published and new poems showcases the many facets of Collins style. He experiments with ancient forms such as the paradelle and the sonnet, poking fun, and producing images. All the while his self-deprecating humor shows through.
Billy Collins work appeals to a wide audience. His work is very accessible, and if not for its sometime adult subject matter would be appropriate for and understood by children. His poetry is funny on the surface, but when closely read reveals new meanings.
Sailing Alone Around the Room : New and Selected Poems >
Customer Review #3:
a real American poet
You may find yourself reading critically acclaimed poetry in "The New York Review of Books" and other highbrow literary journals, only to think, "This stuff is horrible!" So you pick up your dog-eared copy of Keats, Shelley, or Byron, and read those more familiar odes of yesteryear, lamenting that todays poets are too alien to enjoy. Its not that youre not intelligent or avant-garde enough; its just that the poetry of today really is bizarre. For you, reader, I recommend Billy Collins. He is critically acclaimed indeed--the Library of Congress U.S. Poet Laureate, in fact--but he is also approachably good. Like Garrison Keillor, Mr. Collins understands the value of writing funny, and his dry, New York wit punctuates each verse like a breath of fresh air. When I first heard him read his poetry on NPR, I realized that there really is good poetry being written out there in America. Collins is the real thing, and its writers like him that are bringing poetry back to popularity. I truly admire his work, and you will too.
|
|
Sailing Alone Around the Room : New and Selected Poems >
Related Products
|
|
|
|