Homage to Clio - W. H. Auden

Advantages: cheers you up
Disadvantages: you're left wanting more

...After watching the programmes on television, telling us of tales of love and more recently Christmas poems, I wasn't surprised to find a whole stack of books edited by Daisy Goodwin on the shops shelves. But this is a good thing. This is a woman who understands and has been to places that we have all visited and some that we would rather not remember, and in this book there is a poem for every occasion. Ones that let us grieve and mourn, such a s Funeral Blues by W. H. Auden and the infamous Do Not Stand At My Grave And Weep to poems that make us realise that maybe life isn't as bad as it seems like Streemin by Roger McGough and Loss by Wendy Cope. This book has it covered with poems that make you laugh and cry, and even a section called "Don't let the B******s Grind You Down." It holds within its small binding a cornucopia of poems... Read review

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Advantages: quality of writing - great dialogue
Disadvantages: it can be complicated and don't expect every death to have meaning

...but often it was sordid. However this obsession with reality did not mean that he resorted to the terse prose of many pulp fiction writers. He loved similies and metaphors and had a huge knowledge of plant life that would manage to work its way into most descriptions. And he was a great writer, lauded by not only his contemporaries but also such luminaries as T S Eliot and W H Auden. In fact for most of his life, Chandler could not stop writing. Although his output in terms of books is fairly small he was an avid letter writer and there are collections of his letters available although they are a bit of an acquired taste. So this book is a great read, not just as a piece of crime fiction, but as a piece of fiction and deserves a place on anyone's bookshelf.... Read review

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Advantages: A varied collection of great Poets and great Poetry in one book.
Disadvantages: If you like Poetry, none at all!

.... The last poem I 'have' to include is from ' Twelve songs' by W.H.Auden. This is a fantastic poem. It is about the loss of someone. It is an elegy. W.H. AUDEN 1907-73 from Twelve Songs ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ IX ~~~~ Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone, Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone, Silence the pianos and with muffled drum Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come. Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead Scribbling on the sky the message He Is Dead, Put crepe bows round the white necks of the public doves, Let the traffic policemen wear black cotton gloves. He was my North, my South, my East and West, My working week and my Sunday rest, My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song; I thought that love would last for ever: I was wrong. The stars are not wanted now: put out every one; Pack up the moon... Read review

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