Poetry

'Ariel' by Sylvia Plath

Advantages: Easy to read
Disadvantages: too thoughtful and melancholy for some

I really enjoyed reading this collection of poetry. Plath has a graphic imagination evident in poems such as 'Cut' and her imagery is at times explicit but so apt. 'Morning song' is yet another beautiful poem. The title plays upon the two seperate meanings of 'morning' and 'mourning'. Describing a mother's feelings after birth, Plath describes her as 'cow heavy' using the image of the lactating mother and effortlessly transferring it to the accurate ...
...Plath's poetry is as intriguing as her life. People might suggest her poetry is depressing and such but i urge you to read it. She has such a way with words. Also i would highly recommend reading 'The Bell Jar'. A fascinating insight into the world of insanity through the eyes of a young girl. ...

Kickboxer22 30.04.2008 · Read Full Review
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Review of Ariel - Sylvia Plath

I'm only half that and enjoyed it...

Advantages: Chuckles ahoy!
Disadvantages: Very few

...And rightly so. Now We Are Sixty is the response of the author to him hitting the golden years, and at the same time creating a lovely pastiche of A A Milne's poems about Christopher Robin. Unfortunately, the book was dressed as being more for the silver-haired amongst us, when really the themes are applicable to (nearly) all, and the writing style is just so witty and enjoyable, there is no real age-bracket it would appeal to - it is a book for ...
...about Buck House as mentioned, now starts "They're changing sex at Buckingham Palace" and proceeds from there - luckily Christopher Robin doesn't go down with, or on, Alice at all. And in the rest of the poem it becomes clear this is a Club-member type spouting off against all and sundry: New Labour, cricket, the courts, Stephen Fry... "The King's Breakfast" has become "The Queen's Pickle", which is another brilliant re-working, wherein the old ...

theediscerning 26.09.2002 · Read Full Review
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Review of Now We Are Sixty - Christopher Matthew

The World's Wife

Advantages: Easy to read, Funny in places, original (as far as i know!)
Disadvantages: Very anti-men and does not include notes about who these women actually are

...overly enthusiastic; having suffered through the terribly depressing poems of hers that we studied at GCSE. However, I was pleasently surprised as many of them are funny and seem a lot easier to 'analyse'. Ok now here's the review of the book itself: The World's Wife is a clever take on popular characters from mythology, fairytales and real people (all male, of course!) Duffy takes the tales and subverts them so we see these famous stories from ...
...have not had the chance to tell their stories before, including Mrs Midas, Queen Herod and Delilah to name but a few. The poems themselves range from downright funny ('Mrs Faust' and 'Elvis's Twin Sister' to shocking (such as 'The Devil's Wife', which gives a sympathetic view of Myra Hindley) to poignantly sad (See 'Mrs Quasimodo'). In short it covers a wide range of emotions to suit whatever mood one is in. My favourite poems were 'Mrs Aesop' ...

SilentLamb 01.02.2008 · Read Full Review
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Review of The World's Wife - Carol Ann Duffy

HERE KITTY KITTY!

Advantages: The book that the musical 'Cats' was based upon.
Disadvantages: None.

...with illustrations by Nicolas Bentley. Old Possums 'Book Of Practical Cats' is one of my favourite books of T.S.Eliot and it is this book and its cat characters that the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical 'Cats' was based upon. Cats have characters all of their own and they are each unique and individual. My two cats are brother and sister and they are entirely different in character. I have a blue cat which is the male and he is massive, a huge Tomcat, ...
...ever meet. Whereas his sister, who is a tortoiseshell, is dainty and like a princess and she demands special treatment at every turn, much to the dismay of my BlueBoy. They are both entirely different characters, but from the same litter; Much like children, cats need names to suit the type of personality and look that they possess. To call the amazing, beautiful, mysterious, magical, secretive and naughty housecat 'Kitty', is demeaning the many ...

Morning_Becomes_Electra 18.05.2008 · Read Full Review
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Review of Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats - T.S. Eliot

Handfast - Scottish poetry not just for weddings

Advantages: Poignant Scottish poetry
Disadvantages: Too short?

Although some may be put off by the 'Scottish' reference in the title, if you have any love for poetry at all, give this little book a chance, and if you haven't been touched by any of the poems by the end of the book, ask for your money back. At only 64 pages, the book isn't uncommonly short for a poetry anthology, in fact more than this would probably have you in tears. Although the author is listed here as Lizzie MacGregor, there are many other ...
...Liz Lochhead. Lochhead makes several suggestions for use of the poetry, but it's clear right from the beginning that, Scots or not, this is a collection of poems for the celebration of love. There are poems from the well-known authors you'd expect in a volume of Scottish poetry (e.g. Robert Burns, Robert Louis Stevenson) and also contemporary Scots poets - Sheena Blackhall's 'Haunfast' is particularly appropriate as the first poem in a book devoted ...

jemima.peter 01.03.2006 · Read Full Review
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Review of Handfast: Scottish Poems for Weddings and Affirmations - Lizzie MacGregor