Collected Poems 1947-1997 (Harper Perennial Modern Classics) - Softcover

Ginsberg, Allen

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0061139750 ISBN 13: 9780061139758

Publisher: Harper Perennial, 2007

Synopsis

Here, for the first time, is a volume that gathers the published verse of Allen Ginsberg in its entirety, a half century of brilliant work from one of America's great poets. The chief figure among the Beats, Ginsberg changed the course of American poetry, liberating it from closed academic forms with the creation of open, vocal, spontaneous, and energetic postmodern verse in the tradition of Walt Whitman, Guillaume Apollinaire, Hart Crane, Ezra Pound, and William Carlos Williams. Ginsberg's classics Howl, Reality Sandwiches, Kaddish, Planet News, and The Fall of America led American (and international) poetry toward uncensored vernacular, explicit candor, the ecstatic, the rhapsodic, and the sincere--all leavened by an attractive and pervasive streak of common sense. Ginsberg's raw tones and attitudes of spiritual liberation also helped catalyze a psychological revolution that has become a permanent part of our cultural heritage, profoundly influencing not only poetry and popular song and speech, but also our view of the world.

The uninterrupted energy of Ginsberg's remarkable career is clearly revealed in this collection. Seen in order of composition, the poems reflect on one another; they are not only works but also a work. Included here are all the poems from the earlier volume Collected Poems 1947-1980, and from Ginsberg's subsequent and final three books of new poetry: White Shroud, Cosmopolitan Greetings, and Death & Fame. Enriching this book are illustrations by Ginsberg's artist friends; unusual and illuminating notes to the poems, inimitably prepared by the poet himself; extensive indexes; as well as prefaces and various other materials that accompanied the original publications.

About this title

Review:

"There's a lot to like...the current volume testifies to the poet's scope and indefatigable energy."--Chicago Sun-Times

"The COLLECTED POEMS" are the ultimate statement on Ginsberg's art."--Chicago Tribune

"If you want to read Ginsberg's poetry, you should go straight to the source. COLLECTED POEMS 1947-1997 gathers everything."--Los Angeles Times

"Taken all together, Ginsberg's poems are X-rays of a considerable part of American society during the last four decades."--The New Yorker

"The volume gathers for the first time all the published verse of...poet Ginsberg...A history...of a turbulent time."--Salt Lake City Tribune

"Essential...COLLECTED POEMS...is easily the best of the bunch...Some 50 years later, Ginsberg's talent still glows on paper."--The Post and Courier

"A...brilliant volume that shows Ginsberg...to be not only a legendary protest writer but also a lyric poet."--New York Times

"Ginsberg's poems are reminders that those who face a culture's disapproval can approve themselves."--The Progressive

"The mammoth new COLLECTED POEMS, 1947-1997 places Ginsberg firmly among the most prolific poets of the age."--Washington Post Book World

"Sooner or later, anyone interested in American poetry must embrace Allen Ginsberg."--Houston Chronicle

About the Author:

Allen Ginsberg was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters as well as a winner of the National Book Award for Poetry. He was born in Newark, New Jersey, in 1926, and died in New York City in 1997.

About this edition

• Publisher: Harper Perennial
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 0061139750
• ISBN 13: 9780061139758
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 1216