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20th out of 40 books
—
3 voters
An Atlas of the Difficult World: Poems, 1988-1991
In this, her thirteenth book of verse, the author of "The Dream of a Common Language" and "Snapshots of a Daughter-in-Law" writes of war, oppression, the future, death, mystery, love and the magic of poetry.
Paperback, 72 pages
Published
December 17th 1991
by W. W. Norton & Company
(first published October 17th 1991)
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One of the later poems in this book includes a phrase from Simone Weil, and the full sentence the phrase comes from is given in the Notes: "The love of our neighbor in all its fullness simply means being able to say to him: 'What are you going through?'" The idea of answering or imagining or feeling one's way into that what are you going through? is a central idea of this slim volume of Rich's poems from the late 1980s and early 1990s: it's there from the very start of the very first poem and ke...more
The intensity of these poems, of a woman who believes in and loves her country but needs to claim it back and evaluate it, and say the truth, was so appropriate around this election time. I had felt so very often during the Bush years that I needed to claim my country back, to be able to love it despite the direction Bush was taking it, and despite the fact that in Zurich when I visited, there was a Wanted poster for Bush for crimes against humanity. If the election had ended differently, I thin...more
..."I know you are reading this poem as you pace beside the stove
warming milk, a crying child on your shoulder, a book in your
hand
because life is short, and you too are thirsty.
I know you are reading this poem listening for something, torn
between bitterness and hope
turning back once again to the task you cannot refuse."...
(Adrienne Rich, "Dedications")
warming milk, a crying child on your shoulder, a book in your
hand
because life is short, and you too are thirsty.
I know you are reading this poem listening for something, torn
between bitterness and hope
turning back once again to the task you cannot refuse."...
(Adrienne Rich, "Dedications")
I know you are reading this poem because there is nothing else / left to read / there where you have landed, stripped as you are'
The is an extraordinary collection by Adrienne Rich. If you like your poetry brave, original, potent and driven by truth & conviction, there is no better place to start. It's all at gut level and there is a sense that you'll always carry it there.
The is an extraordinary collection by Adrienne Rich. If you like your poetry brave, original, potent and driven by truth & conviction, there is no better place to start. It's all at gut level and there is a sense that you'll always carry it there.
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Hadn't read her before. Nice introduction to her voice and technique. I'd like to see how it compares to earlier work now.
Arianne Hartsell-Gundy read a poem called "Dedications" from this collection. King Library (2nd floor) | PS3535.I233 A84 1991
I'd have given this 3 stars, but a series of poems under the section of the book titled Eastern War Time saved it for me.
Beautifully written, but there were some poems I just couldn't really connect with as much as others.
Where are we moored?
What are the bindings?
What behooves us?
What are the bindings?
What behooves us?
Sep 02, 2009
Tonya
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I love the way she says so much with such simplicity of syntax.
Jul 30, 2010
Machim
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811.54 R498a 1991
All I can say about this book is that several years ago I read the poem that begins with "...I know you are reading this poem..." and it completely revitalized my desire to read more poetry, which (if anyone has seen my list of books) obviously has been a life's pursuit.
Enjoy. This book is awesome.
Enjoy. This book is awesome.
Feb 12, 2008
Elizabeth
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Anyone who respects and enjoys poetry
Recommended to Elizabeth by:
Dr. Linda Taylor
Rich educates, requires your full attention, and sometimes cuts your heart deep and clean. She is not "easy reading" but she is worth the effort. The poem "Dedications" can still move me to tears in weary, lonely moments.
One of my favorite books of poetry of all time, mostly because of the poem "IV (from Dedications)"
I find it extremely difficult to rate poetry, so ignore my stars.
One of my favorite volumes of poetry.
Jun 17, 2013
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Adrienne Rich (b. 1929). Born to a middle-class family, Rich was educated by her parents until she entered public school in the fourth grade. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Radcliffe College in 1951, the same year her first book of poems, A Change of World, appeared. That volume, chosen by W. H. Auden for the Yale Series of Younger Poets Award, and her next, The Diamond Cutters and Other Poems...more
More about Adrienne Rich...
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“FINAL NOTATIONS
it will not be simple, it will not be long
it will take little time, it will take all your thought
it will take all your heart, it will take all your breath
it will be short, it will not be simple
it will touch you through your ribs, it will take all your heart
it will not be long, it will occupy your thought
as a city is occupied, as a bed is occupied
it will take all your flesh, it will not be simple
you are coming into us who cannot withstand you
you are coming into us who never wanted to withstand you
you are taking parts of us into places never planned
you are going far away with pieces of our lives
it will be short, it will take all your breath
it will not be simple, it will become your will”
—
6 people liked it
it will not be simple, it will not be long
it will take little time, it will take all your thought
it will take all your heart, it will take all your breath
it will be short, it will not be simple
it will touch you through your ribs, it will take all your heart
it will not be long, it will occupy your thought
as a city is occupied, as a bed is occupied
it will take all your flesh, it will not be simple
you are coming into us who cannot withstand you
you are coming into us who never wanted to withstand you
you are taking parts of us into places never planned
you are going far away with pieces of our lives
it will be short, it will take all your breath
it will not be simple, it will become your will”
“Some rooftop, water-tank looming, street-racket strangely quelled
and other known and unknown there, long sweet summer evening
on the tarred roof:
leaned back your head to the nightvault swarming with stars
the Pleiades broken loose, not seven but thousands
every known constellation flinging out fiery threads
and you could distinguish all
-cobwebs, tendrils, anatomies of stars
coherently hammocked, blueblack avenues between…
It was New York, the dream-site
the lost city the city of dreadful light…we
went striding the avenues in our fiery hair
in our bodies young and ordinary riding the subways reading
or pressed against other bodies
feeling in them the maps of Brooklyn Queens Manhattan…”
—
2 people liked it
More quotes…
and other known and unknown there, long sweet summer evening
on the tarred roof:
leaned back your head to the nightvault swarming with stars
the Pleiades broken loose, not seven but thousands
every known constellation flinging out fiery threads
and you could distinguish all
-cobwebs, tendrils, anatomies of stars
coherently hammocked, blueblack avenues between…
It was New York, the dream-site
the lost city the city of dreadful light…we
went striding the avenues in our fiery hair
in our bodies young and ordinary riding the subways reading
or pressed against other bodies
feeling in them the maps of Brooklyn Queens Manhattan…”
