From Publishers Weekly
Readers of this wonderful, if overly long, anthology dedicated to the power of cinema may be best served by skipping the editors' introduction--which spends too much time discussing the "various" and somewhat tenuous connections between verse and cinema--and moving right into the poems. French ( Malle on Malle ) and Wlaschin have compiled an excellent collection of poetry, ranging from e. e. cummings through 1950s work by Frank O'Hara to recent works by John Ashbery. The poems are a must for any cinema lover, and the editors provide copious notes on every poem, explicating film references. The collection is organized into topical sections: "The Silent Cinema," "Hollywood," "The Stars and the Supporting Cast," "Movies as Metaphor," etc. However, most of the poems seem to straddle genres, such as Charles Webb's "After Not Winning the Yale Poetry Prize" (featured in "Movies as Metaphor") in which the author imagines monsters from the horror genre, such as King Kong and Godzilla, descending upon a poetry judge. While impossible to read in one sitting, the volume is perfect for occasional reading; pick it up, and you'll find such delights as Amiri Baraka's "Jim Brown on the Screen," Margaret Atwood's "Werewolf Movies" and John Hollander's "MovieGoing"--whose final line serves as a summary of the joys of movies as well as of reading: "These fade. All fade, Let us honor them with our own fading sight."
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Book Description
This collection of poetry includes work from almost 100 English-language poets, whose work spans as many years as the movies themselves. It guides readers through the silent era to talkies, movie stars, home movies and beyond - the final poem being about recording TV films onto VHS.
