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stupidpieceofhuman's review
5.0
why 5 stars? yeah, i know that some of the poems in this book does not stand up to its worth, but what strikes me the most is the simplicity in the poems. there is a fascinating simplicity in each and every poems in this book which shows the strength of stephen spender's poetic genius. i had read some of his poems from palgrave's 'golden treasury' but i craved more to read his poems. and, this collection is very good, though i am also looking for the new collected poems of stephen spender, the latest edition. and, while reading, i found two extraordinary things (presumably) - 1. his poems situate between modernism and postmodernism. his poems are the in-betweener in these two ages. and 2. one of spender's strength is he knows how to use his weakness as a weapon to his poetic strength. and, he is quite successful in it. his biggest fear is his trauma of war. and, he beautifully brings his fear as the means of poetic strength. there are multiple poems in the book which deals with war (even one section was named as 'war poems' and some of the poems in the 'spain' section also talks about the spanish civil war), and that war-trauma theme is brilliantly used. besides, there is a nostalgia in his poems, basically in the poems written for other poets and specially, romantic poems. stephen spender is one of the most important poets of his time, just like joseph conrad was one of the important writers in his time and in the later times. but, to choose, 'choruses from the oedipus trilogy' is the best part in this collection.
why 5 stars? because it is worthy for that.
why 5 stars? because it is worthy for that.
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