Ferlinghetti's Greatest Poems
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- Type：Epub+TxT+PDF+Mobi
- Create Date：2021-07-01 08:55:04
- Update Date：2025-09-06
- Status：finish
- Author：Lawrence Ferlinghetti
- ISBN：081122712X
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Summary
At last， just in time for his 99th birthday， a powerful overview of one of America's most beloved poets: New Directions is proud to present a swift， terrific chronological selection of Ferlinghetti's poems， spanning more than six decades of work and presenting one of modern poetry's greatest achievements。
Reviews
Hayden J Amaro
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I may feel alone sometimes， but then I find works like this。
Alarie
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Ferlinghetti is 101 years old。 I saw him in a Zoom celebration of his birthday last spring， and he was still standing sturdily upright at his window to wave to a crowd celebrating him below。 The books featured in this collection were published from 1955 to 2014。 My first encounter with him was when I got to college， not in class， but when my roommate handed A Coney Island of the Mind to me， saying， “I think you’ll like this。” She was right。 That was the second collection featured in these greate Ferlinghetti is 101 years old。 I saw him in a Zoom celebration of his birthday last spring， and he was still standing sturdily upright at his window to wave to a crowd celebrating him below。 The books featured in this collection were published from 1955 to 2014。 My first encounter with him was when I got to college， not in class， but when my roommate handed A Coney Island of the Mind to me， saying， “I think you’ll like this。” She was right。 That was the second collection featured in these greatest hits。For me， there’s an energy and buoyant momentum to his early work that I can’t compare to any other poet I know。 They’re less profound， perhaps， than later poems， being more wonderful in the joy of reading than in meaning， and yet it’s their uniqueness that makes me prefer his poems published before 1981。 So I was all the more surprised when I came to Blasts Cries Laughter（2014）。 That was the year Ferlinghetti turned 95， but the events of 9/11 and following 9/11 propelled him to write more political， pessimistic poems about the state of the world and failures of humanity。 This is not usually poetry I’m drawn to， but I found his poems brilliantly heartbreaking。In some cases， knowing what I now know， turns good poems into great ones。 In 1973， Open Eye， Open Heart was published， including the poem “Pound at Spoleto。” Pound died in 1972。 At the time the poem was written， he was in his 80s and exceedingly frail。 Pound was seated in a theatre box， so he could take his turn reading without having to struggle to the stage。“After almost an hour， his turn came。 Or after a life…。The applause was prolonged and Pound tried to rise from his armchair。 A microphone was partly in the way。 He grasped the arms of the chair with his bony hands and tried to rise。 He could not and he tried again and could not。 His old friend did not try to help him。” The contrast with Pound’s condition to the hale Ferlinghetti at 101 made this poem （with prose poem or prose intro） much more heartbreaking。This is the beginning of an early poem I enjoyed。 It sounds so light， breezy， joyful， then he smacks you with amusing sarcasm and contradiction。 You still the world is a beautiful place because he makes awful things seem funny。 （Picture this poem with the lines sprawled across the page and lots of spacing。 Goodreads reformatted this when I hit preview/post。）tt“The world is a beautiful place to be born intoif you don’t mind happiness not always being so very much fun if you don’t mind a touch of hell now and thent just when everything is fine because even in heaventttthey don’t sing all the time…。” 。。。more
Lee
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3。5 stars
robin friedman
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Lawrence Ferlinghetti， R。I。P。 February 23， 2021Ferlinghetti Nears 100I recently entered a contest to win a copy of Lawrence Ferlinghetti's new novel "Little Boy" and was surprised at receiving favorable responses simply for showing an interest in the book， published as Ferlinghetti （b。 March 24， 1919） reaches the century mark。 The response encouraged me to read Ferlinghetti rather than merely to enter a contest。 I turned to this collection， "Ferlinghetti's Greatest Poems" published by New Direct Lawrence Ferlinghetti， R。I。P。 February 23， 2021Ferlinghetti Nears 100I recently entered a contest to win a copy of Lawrence Ferlinghetti's new novel "Little Boy" and was surprised at receiving favorable responses simply for showing an interest in the book， published as Ferlinghetti （b。 March 24， 1919） reaches the century mark。 The response encouraged me to read Ferlinghetti rather than merely to enter a contest。 I turned to this collection， "Ferlinghetti's Greatest Poems" published by New Directions in 2017 when the poet was the young age of 98。Ferlinghetti has been a presence in American life for many years。 I have been most familiar with him through my reading of Beat works by Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac。 Ferlinghetti published Ginsberg's poem "Howl" and defended the poem in a subsequent obscenity trial。 Among other things， Ferlinghetti has also owned San Francisco's City Lights bookstore for many years， and he has become almost synonymous with the cultural life of the city。 I have read Ferlinghetti before， but this is the first time I remember reading through an entire book。 It was a rewarding thing to do and shouldn't have had to wait until the poet was reaching 100。The book offers an overview of Ferlinghetti's poetry from 1955 to 2014 and includes works from 12 published collections。 The poetry has a feeling of spontaneity and accessibility as Ferlinghetti avoided the difficult， academic style of some contemporary poetry。 The poems are a fun to read and also frequently serious。 Many of the works have the feel of a painting。 The poems are set in San Francisco， of course， but also in New York City， Paris， and elsewhere。 Figures such as Pablo Neruda， Jack Kerouac， Ezra Pound， and Dylan Thomas receive recognition in these poems。 While many of the poems have a political bent， many others celebrate individual feeling and experience and the joy of being alive。 Many of the poems are written in a form of variable， broken lines which reminded me of William Carlos Williams。 There are many other poetic influences， including Whitman， as well。I thought the best of these poems were those included in Ferlinghetti's early collection "The Coney Island of the Mind"， a book which has become a rare million-seller for a work of poetry and is probably the work for which Ferlinghetti will be remembered。 There are 13 works included from this collection， including the work in which the poet declares "The pennycandystore beyond the El/ is where I first/ fell in love/ with unreality。" It is difficult not to fall in love with this poem。 In the poem "I am waiting" Ferlinghetti announces a theme for his poetry and for his understanding of life as he repeats "I am perpetually awaiting/a rebirth of wonder。" The poetry from "Coney Island of the Mind" is accessible and inspiring。 Ferlinghetti continued to write in his own style through the rest of the books excerpted in this anthology with many outstanding poems。 The poems I especially enjoyed included the short "Recipe for Happiness in Khaboravosk or Anyplace"， "Baseball Canto"， "The Scavengers on a Truck: Two Beautiful People in a Mercedes" "The Old Italians Dying"， "Roman Morn" and more。 In an excerpt from a series called "Paris Transformations" Ferlinghetti reflects on the inevitability of death。"For years I never thought of death。Now the breathof the eternal harlequinmakes me look upas if a defrocked Someone were therewho might make me into an angelplaying piano on a riverboat。"This is a book to get to know and to revisit。 It enhanced my appreciation of the Beats and of other American poetry and art with a broad-based appeal。 I enjoyed sitting down with Ferlinghetti at last and thinking about his accomplishments and vision as he reaches 100 years of age。Robin Friedman 。。。more
David Rullo
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A short collection of some of Ferlinghetti's greatest poems。 A short collection of some of Ferlinghetti's greatest poems。 。。。more
Brendan
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Rating: 3 1/2Seems more like an overview of his career than his greatest poems。 Some hits， but plenty of misses。 Multiple references to New York City， San Francisco， Paris， Pablo Neruda， and God / Jesus。 Favorites:"It was a face which darkness could kill" - from Pictures of the Gone World"Sometime during eternity" - from A Coney Island of the Mind"Rough Song of Animals Dying" - from Northwest Ecolog Rating: 3 1/2Seems more like an overview of his career than his greatest poems。 Some hits， but plenty of misses。 Multiple references to New York City， San Francisco， Paris， Pablo Neruda， and God / Jesus。 Favorites:"It was a face which darkness could kill" - from Pictures of the Gone World"Sometime during eternity" - from A Coney Island of the Mind"Rough Song of Animals Dying" - from Northwest Ecolog 。。。more
Katie R。 Herring
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There were a couple poems I loved in their entirety， and several with wonderful lines。 His poetry as a whole， however， didn’t speak to me。 Nor did one poem speak loudly enough to make me fall in love with the poetry。 I would， however， be keen on reading more of his work。
Marie
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3。5I appreciate the fact that this wasn’t lazy poetry but it just wasn’t my cup of tea！
Jon Nakapalau
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A master of word alchemy - illuminated and incandescent。
Vincent DiGirolamo
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I always liked greatest hits albums， especially when full of new discoveries。I always liked artist retrospectives that enable us to see change over time—the blue phase， the island years， etc。I always liked protest songs that said no to death and yes to life。A book to share and share。
Jack Delaney。
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