About this title: In his eighth book of poems, Williams continues to develop the possibilities of the long line for which he is so well known, but he includes some short lines here as well, recalling the work of his early books. The poems here often investigate consciousness--both in the psychological sense of the word and in the sense that suggests awareness of what's around, an awareness for which Williams has received copious praise.
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Description: Good. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Edition: 1st
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Date Published: 2000-06-15
ISBN-13:9780374527068ISBN:0374527067
Description: Like New. May be shiny, in some instances dust jackets are not included, no missing pages, no damage to binding, may have a remainder mark. read more
Description: Good+ As issued No Jacket. Spine lean, sticker remains on rear cover near upc, both covers are soiled with black smudges, front cover lower corner curls up, top right corner of the front cover(and left of rear) and all of the pages have a small corner crease bent towards the back, and other light to moderate shopwear. read more
Description: Dust Jacket Included. 2nd Edition Book is in near fine condition in a near fine dj with light wear. 40 new poems about love, death, secrets kept & pain unexpressed. 69 pages. read more
"I have to admit that I like some of his earlier books better--"Tar" and "Lies" are two that come to mind--because in them Williams told more stories, and the stories themselves were more memorable. There are still a few good stories here ("The Poet" and "King," for example), but many of the poems are more abstract, more interested in delineating psychological states than in recreating memories. One of the things that make his book impressive, however, is the precision with which Williams can make psychological distinctions. Williams writes the best long line in contemporary poetry (a free verse equivalent of the alexandrine and hexameter), and his lines are both sinewy and sinuous, capable of evoking both the crudest personal incident and of drawing the most delicate psychological distinction. Williams can do what Whitman and Fearing does and much of what Henry James does too, in a voice distinctively and powerfully his own."
"I think the best poetry helps you look at something familiar with new eyes, and Williams' poems do that for me. He is a superb craftsman as well: "someone who lives in words, making a world from their music" "We engorge our little sorrows" "all that carnal scorn" "the inwardly armored helmet of thought" Amen."
"Williams writes long lines--so long, they wrap around when they hit the margin. Formalists can have their say about this; I just see mastery that isn't self-conscious. "Archetypes" is a most truthful poem on marriage. Great poems from a contemporary poet who doesn't have to be Billy Collins."
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