Joel ConarroeCritiques

Thought I should learn a bit about classical American poetry, and this book was recommended on a Substack that I like. Glad I read it, it’s certainly more by these six authors than I ever read before. I kinda liked Whitman. I found Dickinson and Stevens to be mostly incomprehensible, and Williams pretty much so,also. Frost and Hughes I felt like I could read, but I didn’t get much out of them. Maybe in some alternative life I would have learned more about poetry. Oh well.

Well that took awhile to get through. ?áFortunately I own it, so I didn't have to rush to return it. ?áGood introduction to the six - mostly the works were chosen for their accessibility, for the impact they'd make on the general reader. ?áAnd there are only brief intro sketches for each - no interfering intertextual commentary. ?áSo it was grand for me to get a good solid sampling of each, and to be able to decide for myself who to learn more about.

I do think that now I probably have read enough Whitman for while, and enough Dickinson and Hughes. ?áFor sure enough Frost, at least once I have Dust of Snow memorized. ?áWilliams turns out to be much more than a red wheelbarrow and delicious plums so I'll have to look for more by him. ?á

And Wallace Stevens. ?áWhoa. ?áI have very little comprehension of his intellectual stuff, but it still moved me, and I definitely want more:

?á ?á ?áThe Reader

All night I sat reading a book,
Sat reading as if in a book
Of sombre pages.

It was autumn and falling stars
Covered the shriveled forms
Crouched in the moonlight.

No lamp was burning as I read,
A voice was mumbling, "Everything
Falls back to coldness,

Even the musky muscadines,
The melons, the vermilion pears
Of the leafless garden."

The sombre pages bore no print
Except the traceof burning stars
In the frosty heaven."½

Editor Conarroe distills the works of six unique American Poets in this 281 page volume. For each he provides a concise but enlightening introduction, but it is the poets themselves whose words speak loudest. Whether it is the rapture of Whitman, the surface simplicity of Emily Dickinson, the puzzles of Wallace Stevens, the plain truth of the observations of William Carlos Williams, the sober musings of Robert Frost, or the unforgettable impact of the lyrical prose of Langston Hughes (who seems incapable of even a single boring line), this book is a treasure you should keep giving to your children birthday after birthday, Christmas after Christmas, until they finally make the time to read it.

To love reading with loving poetry is impossible.

A nice little anthology which is a good introduction to the poets contained in it.

Collected here are some great examples of the works of Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson, Wallace Stevens, William Carlos Williams, Robert Frost, and Langston Hughes.

This book is a perfect introduction to some well known poets of merit.

Recommended for people wishing for an introduction/overview of acclaimed poetry.½