Poetry > by Price

Advantages: A breezy format; excellent discussion of translation; cheap price; highly provocative
Disadvantages: None

...(Paz’s own entry). Numbered in nineteen sections, the first three are devoted explicitly to the original: 1) Wang Wei’s text in Chinese characters, 2) its transliteration using the Pinyin system of rendering Chinese sounds with our alphabet, and 3) a word-for-word gloss of each character, including numerous potential translations. Weinberger provides excellent commentary on all nineteen sections, and Paz adds a little essay at the end. While ostensibly ...
...it can be transmuted, and in some cases, utterly ruined through translation, the authors’ text can easily serve as a mini-course on the vicissitudes of translation in general. The universal applicability of their conclusions to any notion of poetic translation is an added bonus to what is first and foremost a guide to the challenges and demands of translating classical Chinese poetry. The book tells as much about "bad" translation practices as it ... Read review

Advantages: Funny, childish, funny...
Disadvantages: Childish, funny, childish...

...since been moved to purchase These Were Your Father’s for £4.99 from Waterstones, published by Mandarin. ****************************************************** The collection is illustrated by Hegley himself in a memo-jottings style of relatively few lines in thick felt-tip pen (my interpretation). They are used with great effect to compliment the silly, the inane, the meaningful and the insightful poems alike. On the cover is a sketch of what ...
...glasses to an upturned dog in a cradle. Why? I have no idea, we're all going to have to make up our own little stories for this one! I have it on good authority that more often than not the children’s section of any good booksellers will have a full compliment of Hegley's work: and I can see the appeal. Simple, short, funny and insightful, his poems always enjoy a simplicity that must certainly appeal to children in their direct approach. Indeed, ... Read review

Advantages: good diverse selection
Disadvantages: a few really terrible poems!

I am really, really annoyed as I wrote this entire opinion and then deleted it so have to write it all again!! Okay... I chose this book when I won a prize at school for something (being brilliant probably, lol) a couple of years ago. I've never really been huge on owning books - I own a perfectly good library card - but I like poems and felt maybe I could do with some help getting through the day and night so I thought this would be a good choice. ...
...modern life'. If you believed its editor, Daisy Goodwin, youd think it was full of ready-made miracle cures to magically solve all your everyday problems. Get real, surely none of us are that naïve, but what this book does provide is a selection of poems old and new for every occasion, featuring famous poets and introducing not-so-famous ones. The book is divided into sections for each part of the day you need to tackle: there is 'GETTING OUT OF ... Read review

Advantages: It's probably printed on recycled paper.
Disadvantages: It's dire. Totally dire.

There's a rule written somewhere which says "stick to what you know", and if Jewel had done this, as a Jewel fan, I wouldn't have to be writing this review. Jewel the musician is excellent, heartfelt and meaningful. How on earth this went on to be one of the best selling books of poetry in the US, ever, is simply inconceivable. This collection is basically distilled teenage angst, a pop star whining about her awful life while wearing Versace and ... Read review

Advantages: Accessible and easy to read
Disadvantages: Poetry put some people off!

...have to admit I’m not a great reader of poetry but from time to time I come across something that seems to connect with me. With this in mind I thought I’d do a review of one my favourite poetry collections, ‘A Sense Of Movement’ by British born poet Thom Gunn. Those of you who have read some of my previous opinions will know that I an a fan of the Beat movement, a loose collection of American poets and writers who managed to give an alternative ...
...music. Thom Gunn was not a fully paid up member of this literary movement but in this collection he covers the same ground. Youth angst and culture in general is the principal subject as it was for many writers of the Beat movement like Kerouac, Burroughs and Ginsberg. A BIT OF BACKGROUND Thom Gunn was born in Gravesend in 1929 and was brought up in Hampstead North London. After leaving school, Gunn did two years of National Service and then got ... Read review