Earth-Shattering Poems - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0805048219 ISBN 13: 9780805048216

Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. (BYR), 1998

Synopsis

Poetry helps us across the world's narrow bridges, but when we slip, it helps us not to be afraid. Here is a collection of some of the most intense poems ever written, to guide us, to lead us, to hold on to as we fall.

Poems are earth-shattering when, as Emily Dickinson put it, "I feel physically as if the top of my head were taken off." Liz Rosenberg has selected poems of passion and yearning, of birth and death that do just that: they hurt, but they also heal. For, over and over, the poets return to love, the mysterious, perhaps limitless feeling that binds us to the earth and may lead us beyond.

As Galway Kinnell tells it, "The wages of dying is love." The reward of reading great poetry is a form of love, too, and this collection is a chance to feel that, again and again.

About this title

About the Author

Liz Rosenberg is a poet, author, and professor of children's literature at SUNY Binghamton. Her Earth-Shattering Poems received a 1999 Riverbank Review Children's Book of Distinction Award. A previous poetry anthology, The Invisible Ladder, won the first Claudia Lewis Poetry Award from the Bank Street College of Education. Liz lives with her husband and son in Binghamton, New York.

Reviews

Grade 7 Up?With the poets represented here, it would have been hard to put together a less-than-stellar anthology of poems deemed "earth shattering." Each one of the selections hits upon some incident or emotion that will prompt serious thought, insight, or wonder. Forty-one poets are included, in chronological order, from the enigmatic Greek, Sappho, to contemporary poets. These poems run the emotional gamut from joy and love to sorrow and rage. Whether it be the words or rhythm, or the unique events described, each one contains some essence of "earth shattering" awareness, followed by an aftershock. Some fine examples are Langston Hughes's "Harlem," Pablo Neruda's achingly beautiful "If You Forget Me," and John Keats's examination of a "warm and capable" human hand. Other poets include William Blake, Matthew Arnold, Emily Dickinson, Greg Moglia, J.E. Wei, and Kate Schmitt. Some of the poems are more effective than others, but, then, some seem more "understandable" on the surface. Each one, however, leads readers into the wider world of poetry?whether through African-American poetry, Native American chants, a Hebrew folk song, or other forms. A well-rounded introduction that expresses the emotions of a variety of people as well as different styles of poetry throughout centuries.?Sharon Korbeck, Waupaca Area Public Library, WI
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. (BYR)
• Publication date: 1998
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0805048219
• ISBN 13: 9780805048216
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 128
• Editor: Rosenberg Liz