April is Poetry Month so what better way to celebrate it that with a book that gets to the heart of the art. I’m a fan of cultural critic Clive James. I’ve read his essay collections over the years. This latest volume focuses on poetry. James writes about poets and the writing process. My favorite essay is “Five Favourite Poetry Books.” James’s five favorite poetry books are Yeats’ The Tower, Robert Frost’s Collected Poems, W. H. Auden’s Look, Stranger!, Richard Wilbur’s Poems: 1943-1956, and Philip Larkin’s The Whitsun Weddings. That gives you an idea about Clive James’s taste in poetry. I found these essays enlightening and inspiring. Who is your favorite poet? GRADE: A
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Introduction
Acknowledgements
NOTES ON POETRY
Listening to the Flavour
Five Favourite Poetry Books
The Arrow Has Not Two Points
Meeting McNeice
Little Low Heaven
On a Second Reading
Poetry Archive Tour
That Necessary Minimum
A Deeper Consideration
Product Placement in Modern Poetry
Technique’s Marginal Centrality
A Stretch of Verse
The Donaghy Negotiation
There You Come Home
Interior Music
PART II: OTHER ARTICLES ABOUT POETRY
John Updike’s Poetic Finality
Stephen Edgar Stays Perfect
Poetry Heaven, Political Hell
Les Murray’s Palatial New Shed
Talking to Posterity: Peter Porter, 1929-2010
Michael Longley Blends In
Spectator Diary
Building the Sound of Sense
PART III: FINALE TO A NOTEBOOK
Trumpets at Sunset
George, I read poetry occasionally though I studied many poets back in school and college, Milton, Wordsworth, Donne, Whitman, Browning, Shelley etc. A few years ago, I discovered Thomas Hardy’s poems. Until then, I didn’t know he had written any. I’m not familiar with contemporary poetry.
Prashant, Thomas Hardy is a wonderful poet! Yet most people only know him through his novels.
Coincidently, I’ve been reading James’s CULTURAL AMNESIA, essays about cultural figures James feels we should not forget–a great “dip into” book. As for poetry, I like specific poems as opposed to poets, but my “favorites” (the ones I’ve read the most of) are Browning, Elliott, Pound, and e.e. cummings.
Deb, I’m a big fan of CULTURAL AMNESIA! It’s a terrific book that sent me running to read many of the writers Clive James reviewed. I’m fond of Yeats and Philip Larkin.
I’ve been meaning to pick up a copy of the Wilbur for years.
Rick, Richard Wilbur is an underrated poet. He also did some great translations.
I can’t believe I forgot to mention one of my favorite poems by one of my favorite poets: “The house was quiet and the world was calm” by Wallace Stevens, a wonderful poem about the way reading and being a reader imposes itself on the reader’s external environment.
Deb, I love Wallace Stevens! And “The Emperor of Ice Cream”!
I love Walt Whitman. One other favourite is “Rabbi Ben Ezra”, Jack Gilbert is also marvelous and recently I have enjoyed many poems penned by Clive James himself especially reflecting on the subject of death. They are inspiring and motivate one to take death in stride as just a natural phenomenon.
Bharat, I love Clive James’s reviews and essays, too!