Poetry > by Author Surname (First Letter)

Advantages: Intensely profound and thought provoking poetry.
Disadvantages: Dark and gloomy.

...From Crow's Theology: Crow realized God loved him- Otherwise, he would have dropped dead. So that was proved. Crow reclined, marvelling, on his heart-beat. . . . And what loved the shot-pellets That dribbled from those strung-up mummifying crows? What spoke the silence of lead? Crow realized there were two Gods- One of them much bigger than the other Loving his enemies And having all the weapons. Here the central contradiction in the poems ...
...mercy of the world. Crow is unforgiving and selfish, a creature who delights in what he can do, without regard for others: Crow and Mama When Crow cried his mother's ear Scorched to a stump. When he laughed she wept Blood her breasts her palms her brow all wept blood. He tried a step, then a step, and again a step - Every one scarred her face for ever. When he burst out in rage She fell back with an awful gash and a fearful cry. When Crow cried ... Read review

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: 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 ... Read review

Advantages: Interesting concept behind the plot
Disadvantages: Slow paced

Author: George Bernard Shaw was an Irish playwright born in 1856, and who died in 1950. Although he write music as well, he most enjoying writng plays, with the prupose of putting across a social message, and making it more memorable with the use of comedy, whilst doing so. Some of his plays addressed the issue of education, religion and government, however one topic he often considered was the exploitation of the working class. As a socialist, ...
...a British socialist movement, writing brochures and leaflets for them. He even married a fellow member of the Society, called Charlotte Payne-Townshend. He was an eloquent orator, and gave speeches on equal rights in politics for men and women, how to live healthy lifestyles, and condemning the attitudes of the rich towards the poor. This socialist attitude of Bernard Shaw influenced many of his writings, including Pygmalion, which has become a classic. ... 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