Order from a Major Online Bookstore
Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine
Save Your Time And Money
| AnyBook4Less.com | Order from a Major Online Bookstore |
|
| Home | Store List | FAQ | Contact Us | | ||
| Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine Save Your Time And Money |
||
 |
Title: Collected Poems: Auden by W.H. Auden ISBN: 0-679-73197-0 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 23 April, 1991 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $24.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.85 (13 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: The best poet of the twentieth century, without question
Comment: Auden is funny, sad, strange, wonderful. Here's a selection from of my favorites:
'When it comes,will it come without warning/ Just as I'm picking my nose?/ Will it knock on my door in the morning;/ Or tread in the bus on my toes?/ Will it come like a change in the weather?/ Will its greeting be courteous or rough?/ Will it alter my life altogether?/ O tell me the truth about love.'
Auden talks about not only love but also truth, justice, every part of the human experience. Here's a short part of "Musee des Beaux Arts":
'About suffering they were never wrong,/ The Old Masters: how well they understood/ Its human position; how it takes place/ While someone else is eating or opening a window or/ just walking dully along.'
I cannot find words strong enough to convey how powerful, and how human, this work is.
By the way, in his original 'selected works' Auden re-edited several of his most beloved works - many critics said for the worse. In this particular edition the editor included all of the poems that Auden selected as his best, but in their original forms.
Rating: 5
Summary: Nary a disappointment
Comment: Auden is at once one of the most interesting and heartfelt poets of the 20th Century, whilst being quite underrated as one of the world's best. This volume does an exceptional job in capturing Auden's works in the way that he himself wanted them to be seen. While there are a multitude of purists who cannot abide by any poet's natural tendency to revise his works as life experiences mold his perspective, that Mendelson made the relatively bold decision to publish the augmented Auden is quite refreshing, in my view. These are the works of a man who transgressed the need for set structures, and didn't sacrifice substance for the sake of style. In essence, his poetry was the truest expression of his ideals.
In regards to the book itself, it was tastefully put together, and is a definite asset to any poetry collection. The font and paper stock are smooth and refined, making the poetry easy to read in varying degrees of light. The poems are arranged in a roughly chronological order...once again, the way that Auden himself preferred.
Considering that I own a number of old volumes of Auden's poetry --including first editions-- I can assure any potential buyer that Mendelson took no liberties with this volume. I wish other collections could claim the same.
"Ah, to find a book of a certain Wystan Hugh,
Is to find a gem in a field of residue;
It has been a long time coming, but in my hands I hold
A paper book of Auden, worth its weight in gold"
Rating: 5
Summary: Extremely good
Comment: I must confess that I tend to favor the epic poem - the Homer, Virgil, Dante, Milton, Spenser.
But I find Auden delightful. He's one of those twentieth century poets who subscribes to the old theme of poetical technique rather than stringing a bunch of loosely connected words together in the knowledge it'll instantly make it thought-provoking simply because it makes no obvious sense.
Auden's poetry makes heavy use of alliteration, and rythmic meter and this lightens the mood immensely.
My two favorite poems have to be 'O where are you going?' and 'Have a good time'.
Try this part-stanza from the latter:
"He arrived at last; it was time by the clock.
He crossed himself as he passed the wood;
Black against the evening sky the vats
Brought tears to his eyes as he thought of their love"
Marvellous.
Or, from the former:
"O where are you going?' said reader to rider,
That valley is fatal where furnaces burn,
Yonder's the midden whose odours will madden,
That gap is the grave where the tall return.'"
Auden is precisely the type of poet whom you read on the train, a journey poet of ponderance and easy mood. In some sense he is the modern bucolic, the present eclogue and, with Ted Hughes, is one of the finest english poets of the twentieth century.
 |
Title: The Collected Works of W.B. Yeats Volume I: The Poems : Revised Second Edition by William Butler Yeats ISBN: 0684807319 Publisher: Scribner Pub. Date: 09 September, 1996 List Price(USD): $20.00 |
 |
Title: The Dyer's Hand by W.H. Auden ISBN: 0679724842 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 19 February, 1990 List Price(USD): $18.00 |
 |
Title: The Complete Poems, 1927-1979 by Elizabeth Bishop ISBN: 0374518173 Publisher: Noonday Press Pub. Date: 01 April, 1984 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
 |
Title: W.H. Auden: Selected Poems by W.H. Auden ISBN: 0679724834 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 16 January, 1990 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
 |
Title: Collected Poems by Philip Larkin, Anthony Thwaite ISBN: 0374522758 Publisher: Noonday Press Pub. Date: 01 October, 1993 List Price(USD): $18.00 |
Thank you for visiting www.AnyBook4Less.com and enjoy your savings!
Copyright� 2001-2021 Send your comments
