A Commonplace Book of Pentastichs: Poetry - Hardcover

Carruth, Hayden; Laughlin, James

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0811213862 ISBN 13: 9780811213868

Publisher: New Directions, 1998

Synopsis

James Laughlin (1914-97) was a poet of distinction as well as the founding publisher of New Directions. A Commonplace Book of Pentastichs, the last book of his own that he helped to prepare, is a compilation of 249 poems composed in a five-line stanza form first introduced in The Secret Room (1997). A note to "Thirty-nine Pentastichs" in that earlier volume explains: "A 'pentastich' refers simply to a poem of five lines, without regard to metrics. The present selection is of recent short-line compositions in natural voice cadence, many of them marginal jottings and paraphrases of commonplace book notations." Here, then, are armchair marginalia and apercus to be savored at random.

About this title

About the Author

Hayden Carruth (1921–2008) was a 20th century American poet, literary critic and editor.

James Laughlin (1914–1997) founded New Directions in 1936 while still a student at Harvard. He wrote and compiled more than a dozen books of poetry as well as stories and essays; seven volumes of his correspondence with his authors are available from W.W. Norton. 

Review

The Long Sleep
The Abyss
An Admonition
The Affirmation
After Death
After The Flood
The Afterlife
All Good Things Pass
The Ancient Ocean
The Anglo-saxon Chronicle
An Apology
The Applicant
Arli
Ars Gratia Artis
Ars Poetica
Artaud On Van Gohg
At The Sky's Edge
The Beloved Clown
Betrothal In Assam
The Bharata
The Bird Of Endless Time
The Birth Of An Emperor
The Blindfolded Lovers
The Born Poet
Cabestan
The Cadence Of The World
The Canticle Of The Creatures
The Career Girl
Carriages
The Ceaseless Rain
A Ceremony
Cleomenes On Death
The Coming Of Spring
The Conqueror
Conscience At Yale
Contentment
The Conversation: A Double Pentastich
The Courtship Of Thomas More's Daughters: A Double Pentastich
The Crane
The Dance Of The Skin
De Corpore Hominum
De Perennitate
De Senectute: Mary Baker Eddy
The Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire
Desiderius Erasmus
Desire For The Impossible
Desires And Death
Die Verwirrung
A Difficult Courtship
Difficulty In Henry James
Dinner With Trimalchio
The Discovery
The Double Heads
Dove Sta Memoria
Easter Monday
Elusive Time
The Emperor Makes A Poem
Enjoy The Passing Hour
Epiphany, Anne Carson
An Eskimo Song
The Evening Star
An Evening's Entertainment
Every Day Except Sunday: A Triple Pentastich
The Exiles
An Existence Of Exile
An Exquisite Life
Fair Women
The Fantasist
Fidelio: Ezra Pound
The First Night
The First Time
Flaubert's Earlier Lives
Flaubert's Handbook Of Cliches
Freedom From Rebirth
The French
The Fulfillment
God In Politics
The God Of The Sun And Fire
The Goddess Of Torment
The Good Life
The Good Life
Good Philosophy
The Grasp Of Love
A Great Emperor
The Great Mother
The Growth Of Love
The Hair Shirt
A Happy Ending
The Happy Poets
Hard Times
The Healer
The Healer
A Health Problem
Her Beauty
The Hetaera
His Hand: Two Lines From Lear, Act V
The Honeybee
Human Society
Hunger
I Don't Know Where She Is Wandering Tonight
I Feel Drunk All The Time
I Travel Your Body
The Idols Of Japan
If I Die
The Immeasurable Boundaries
In Hac Spe Vivio
In Hiding
In Love With You
In Memory Of Robert Fitzgerald
In The Auvergne
In Vino Veritas
Inscriptio Fontis
The Invitation To Make Love
The Joy Of Your Charm
Joyce's Words
Kankha-revata
The King-swan
La Poesie
The Labyrinth Of Lines
Ladies Fighting
Language
Le Temps Perdu
The Life Of Chivalry
The Life Of Words
Life Story
Lines
The Linquist
The Living Branch
Living In Three Worlds
Lo Khor (year Wheel)
The Locust
Logodaedaly
The Long Feet People
The Lover's Complaint
A Lover's Oath
The Lovers
A Lullaby
The Magic Flute
The Man Of Tao
Mann Pines To Live
The Manyoshu
The Marvelous Ass
The Merry Life
Messalina
The Mime
A Moment Of Vanity
Mortality
Nero Poisons Britannicus
Not My Loneliness, But Ours
Not Waving But Drowning
The Novelist, Maude Hutchins
Odd Goings-on In Philadelphia
Of Knowledge
Of Zeno The Philosopher
The Old Man's Solution
The Omniscient Autodidact
On Awakening
On Her Prettiness
On Spells
On Wealth
One Lost
The Other Shore Of The Sea
Paolo And Francesca
Penelope To Ulysses
The Persian Woman
The Pissing Of The Toads
Premula's Problem
Procurement
A Proposal
Providence, Fortune & Fate
Public Relations
The Ravaged Virgin
Remembrance Of Her
Renaissance Politics
The Rescue
The Revelation
The Russian Girl
Salad Dressing And An Artichoke
The Scar
The Sculptor
The Seashell
The Secret Line In Loving
The Shadowy Figure
Singing Her Name
Sir Walter Raleigh: A Double Pentastich
Slaves Of The Gods
The Smart Man
The Smile Of The Desert
The Snake Game
The Soldier Poet
A Solution
Song For Silkworms
Spring Comes Again
The Stargazer
A Statement For El Greco And William Carlos Williams
Stories
The Story Of Happiness
Sugaring Time
Swearing
The Sweet Singer
The Talking Truck
Telling Tales
Tempus Loquendi
The Tender Letter
This Foreign Language
Those Wonderful People
Thy Treasure
Time In India
Time Is The Mercy Of Eternity
To Surya
The Toast
Touching
Tout En Ordre
The Tribute
A Trip Through Africa
Tripartite
The Truth
Trying To Please
Two For One
The Two Goddesses: Demeter And Persephone
An Unusual Girl
Vedanta
Vienna
Vigils
The Viper
The Visit Of Eros
A Visit To Harlem
Voltaire And Christianity
Wanderer's Night-song
Want
The Way Of Renunciation
What's New?
Who I Am
A Wintry Christmas
The Wisdom Of The Owl
The Wise Man
Wittgenstein's Ladder
A Woman Of The Sankhini Type
Women
The Writer At Work
The Wrong Button
The Young Deer
The Young Priest
Your Love
A Classic Question
-- Table of Poems from Poem Finder®

Edition details

• Publisher: New Directions
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0811213862
• ISBN 13: 9780811213868
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 91