In Mornings Like This, Annie Dillard extracts and rearranges sentences from old--and often odd--books, and composes ironic poems--some serious, some light--on the heartfelt themes of love, nature, nostalgia, and death. Clever, original, sometimes humorous, and often profound, this collection is sure to charm her fans, both old and new.
| ||||||||||||||||||
Book Description
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
Found poems are to their poet what no-fault insurance is to beneficiaries: payoffs waiting to happen where everyone wins and no one is blamed. Dillard culls about 40 such happy accidents from sources as diverse as a The American Boys Handy Book (1882) and the letters of Van Gogh. Taking the texts nearly verbatim but toying with theme and line breaks, the poet aims for a lucky, loaded symbolism that catapults the reader into an epiphany never imagined by the original authors. If parts of this collection fall short of that ideal, there are plenty of chuckles and some beautiful turns of phrase. Poems of joy tend to fare better than the more somber efforts. It is hard to play serious with a style that relies on techniques more common in comedy, such as understatement ("Another legal situation/ Is death") and double entendre ("Try dropping from different heights"). Regardless, these co-op verses are never less than intriguing.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Library Journal
Poetry from the ever-popular Dillard.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews
By OldBookGuy
Format:Paperback
This is good poetry, but not excellent. The concept is novel, the themes are universal, but most fail to affect. Either I didn't "get" enough of the works, or there wasn't a lot to "get" in the first place.
Format:Paperback
What a wonderful little book of poems! Whether you are familiar with Dillard or not, familiar with the original lines she "lifted" or not, or familiar with poetry at all, you will truly enjoy this book. Annie has crafted these found poems in ways that suprise and stimulate, mixing the clever and the humorous with the deep and profound. Each one is a treasure to be explored for again and again. Dillard makes these works her own; you can hear her voice through others' words.
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
Annie Dillard was recommended to me as a poet whose work would gracefully cross over the line separating genres of literature. I found "Mornings Like This" to be much more than this. It has been said many times that there are no more original thoughts left to be expressed. Ms. Dillard challenges this, by presenting us with "found poetry" - thoughts that she did not formulate originally but that she has adapted to show deeper or alternate meaning. It IS original, despite being thought of by others first. The work is a delicate web of whimsy
Want to see more reviews on this item?
›
Go to Amazon.com to see all 7 reviews
4.1 out of 5 stars
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
- Books > Literature & Fiction > Poetry > Anthologies
- Books > Literature & Fiction > Poetry > Single Authors > United States
- Books > Literature & Fiction > Poetry > United States
- Books > Literature & Fiction > United States > Poetry
- Books > New & Used Textbooks > Humanities > Literature > American Literature
Feedback
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
