The Book of Nightmares

by Galway Kinnell

book data

293 ratings, 4.37 average rating, 36 reviews (more data...)

rating	frequency	%
5		55%
4		30%
3		11%
2		2%
1		0%

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published

May 18th 1973 (first published 1971) by Mariner Books

binding

Paperback, 88 pages

isbn

0395120985 (isbn13: 9780395120989)

description

Galway Kinnell's poetry has always been marked by richness of language, devotion to the things and creatures of the world, and an effort to transform ...more

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09/02/08

Ben rated it:

Read in September, 2008

Who can say how quickly the Dissembler weaves his will? Weeds creep in faster the finer the garden. Chance was that quickly tripping spider of soft fortunes and poisonous heart. Chance was that way things could have been. The loser fashions his yoke from genuflection. Of such a solid piece of plowshare is Galway Kinnel's epic rubric, The Book of Nightmares.

At the overture of contention, the Dissembler tapped his baton upon the aceldama of hope. As I read The Book of Nightmares,...more

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5 comments

08/03/07

Mitch rated it:

Read in January, 1979

A broken clock is right twice a day. That is how I explain to myself that I really like these poems. Usually I find Kinnell's poems to be overblown and melodramatic in a way that is unctious at best. These poems, however, really do what they set out to do, and a little melodrama fits the prospectus just right. Here, Kinnell takes risks, psychological and poetic, that I have not seen in the other books of his that I've picked up. In fact, this one is the only book of his that I would recommend, a...more

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11/28/07

Daniel rated it:

bookshelves: have-read, poetry

The only collection of poetry that has ever gripped me!

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03/05/08

Steven rated it:

In this ambitious work, Galway Kinnell creates a narrator who, in the face of becoming a parent, confronts the nightmares of his culture and his personal history in order to make sense of life and its inevitable “road” to death (73). On this journey, the speaker addresses the timely subject of the Vietnam War (sections V and VI), blaming the “Christian Man” (42) for perpetuating the deceit and power dynamic that have caused so many nightmares on this planet. But, it is in the s...more In this ambitious work, Galway Kinnell creates a narrator who, in the face of becoming a parent, confronts the nightmares of his culture and his personal history in order to make sense of life and its inevitable “road” to death (73). On this journey, the speaker addresses the timely subject of the Vietnam War (sections V and VI), blaming the “Christian Man” (42) for perpetuating the deceit and power dynamic that have caused so many nightmares on this planet. But, it is in the sections where Kinnell explores the dark side to romance and human connection where his language and images really shine. It is here that he hypothesizes how we are drawn together by our fears, our “wandering” through life and “losing our way” (21). In this state, he asserts that the only way to find a mate is to “Let our scars fall in love” (31). This amazing line is just one of many examples in this text of poignant statements on modern love, modern war and what it is to be human.
However, it is a difficult text to discern meaning from, partly because of the jarring free verse that Kinnell uses throughout the book. It seems each line was constructed as an individual unit of meaning, creating such varied line lengths that the reader is given only a map of images with which to navigate this narrator’s consciousness. In many ways, it does mimic a dream, in that the disjointed and sometimes illogical connections are just left that way, giving the reader the difficult task of interpreting them. It’s a great example of form and content coexisting, but one that makes it a bit frustrating as a reader. Additionally, many lines are broken so that an article, such as “the”, hangs at the end of a line. This is always awkward looking to me and trips my eye, and not always to good purpose in this book.
Overall, I am glad to be introduced to this writer, as he is obviously an important contemporary poet, and I would be interested to check out some of his other books to see how his style has evolved since this bold work. (less)

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11/30/07

Grant rated it:

bookshelves: poetry

Read in December, 2007

i've heard this book length poem is a protest against the vietnam war, but i am not so sure i get that from kinnell here. there is mention of soliders/battle, and since he wrote it at the time the war was going on i wouldn't be surprised if it crept in, but i would be dissappointed if that was all it was about. i've also heard it is poem about madness or the madness we have created, which i'd agree with. his language and imagery are rich. the book is filled with creatures and depressing scne...more i've heard this book length poem is a protest against the vietnam war, but i am not so sure i get that from kinnell here. there is mention of soliders/battle, and since he wrote it at the time the war was going on i wouldn't be surprised if it crept in, but i would be dissappointed if that was all it was about. i've also heard it is poem about madness or the madness we have created, which i'd agree with. his language and imagery are rich. the book is filled with creatures and depressing scnenes of half-sleeping, wearing shoes from a dead homeless man, in a stained, bleak hotel room. bodies are set fire and they won't stop burning. people who do sleep are haunted by voices. his combinations of words and phrases are uncommon and new creating startling and confusing imagery, yet somehow he makes an identifiable sense from them. i think this helps his images and voices stay with you after you finish the poem. i read it and then a week later read it again, because for me i was not quite sure what to make of it. it is short and i think is best read in one sitting, though that is not what i did the first time.

on one level i can see it as an attempt to depict the world from the viewpoint of the mad or shellshocked. and i can see how one can read this as commentary on the mess the west has inflicted on the world. i think it is also about the pain off living multiple lives/roles in one person: soldier/father, child/adult, and so on. but what i really got from the book was a poem from a parent to a young child. letting the child know early that even though the world at a young age can seem wonderful and endless, it is really a life of dying. throughout the poem kinnell depicts that which is not dead, but dying: ground rot, an ill, open sored bum, a warehouse for dying. he talks about the child and parent holding onto each other, the parent on the child to keep it back from this knowledge, and the child holding the parent to keep him from dying. but the parent knows this is not possible. to him life is the act of dying from birth. not only is what you love going to die, but you are in the midst of its death. in exchnage for a life of deaht, you have the reward of love. the book has a dark point of view.

there are portions of the book i just did not know what to make of, for instance the references to the hen. eggs and chicks symbolize life, but i did not get that here. it is worth many reads over time, and like the best literature, i feel will allow new insights or viewpoints each time read.

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02/01/09

Joseph Saborio rated it:

I've been reading and re-reading this collection of poetry for over 20 years; my understanding of it has grown and matured. Kinnell's best work.

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12/30/08

Lyn rated it:

I was instead looking for his novella 'Black Light' to review. We know he's a good poet. 'Black Light' is a good road trip.

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05/21/09

Charles rated it:

bookshelves: poetry

Really just a masterpiece, or very near it.

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05/10/09

Ryan Henry rated it:

Read in January, 2004

recommend reading in one sitting...

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04/03/08

Matt rated it:

I loved this book from the moment I picked it up years ago. Now that I am a father, it has a totally new meaning to me.

"And she who is born,
she who sings and cries,
she who begins the passage, her hair
sprouting out,
her gums budding for her first spring on earth,
the mist still clinging about
her face, puts
her hand
into her father's mouth, to take hold of
his song."

Nightmares is tied for my favorite collection of p...more

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09/13/08

Jimmy rated it:

Read in September, 2008

I enjoyed it. But it's not the masterpiece I've heard it was from some. The language wasn't fresh enough in places, the symbolism too heavy-handed, or in places the poem felt too easy, or too dramatic. Sometimes it went back to a very superficial place, a very predictable nightmare of the flesh. But there were lines that I really liked. Like "Let our scars fall in love" and "I have felt the zero/freeze itself around the finger dipped slowly in."

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04/22/09

cuileann rated it:

bookshelves: poetry

Read in April, 2009

Wow.

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01/09/08

Matt rated it:

Read in January, 2008

This was introduced into a Rasaboxes theatre workshop I'm doing in my graduate studies. It's ten poems moving from birth to death and dealing with 20th century America, ritualism, and the Vietnam War. I read the entire thing aloud one afternoon and spent the next hour quietly processing. Shamanistic work indeed.

And now I get to help put together a theatre piece around it! I love grad school!

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10/22/07

Emily rated it:

bookshelves: favorites, nelp, poems

Read in May, 2003

I first read this alone in my tent at Dead Man's Bluff during my solo at NELP. Then again on the near dock with a class Becky and I taught, we read it out loud in its entirety. Then we all took our shirts off. It was too much.

p.s. I'm not just using the "then we all got naked" quip to make this anecdote more interesting. it actually happened.

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07/08/07

Kevin Fanning rated it:

bookshelves: totally-worth-owning

I guess I never mentioned it here, so I'll just note, in case you need the info, that close to 10 years after I first read it, this continues to be my favorite book of all time, the book that I would carry around with me at all times, if I was a person who did things like that.

The wages of dying is love.

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11/14/07

Mackenzie rated it:

bookshelves: poetry

I heard Kinnell read from this book once and was prompted, after the reading, to ask him about the "cows of nothingness". I asked him what he meant by those cows, "the cows, the cows of nothingness, mooing down the bones". He said he has no idea what they mean. I thought that was a great answer.

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07/20/07

Stephanie rated it:

bookshelves: booksthatmakemyheartacheandmymindwa, readandrereadandwouldreadagain

Read in January, 1988

recommends it for: everyone!

This is one of my favorite book of poems. Kinnell is a Whitman Scholar and influenced by Rilke. It's a beautiful collection of visceral poems. "Little Sleep's-Head Sprouting Hair in the Moonlight" is one of my favs.

His work has been put to music by Andrew Bird.

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06/04/08

Lalamich rated it:

a book length poem by a contemporary poet of amazing strength that centers around the birth of a daughter and somehow weaves thru the vietnam war without sounding preachy, but instead scaring the shit out of you with war-torn and other dark imagery.

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06/25/08

DS Hendler rated it:

bookshelves: poetry

"What I learned from this book..."?

1) Hunting bears is dark dark work
2) Even our darkest parts need expression
3) Life is like bear hunting
4) Never tell your father you read poetry and lead off with this book.

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05/03/08

Mark(us) rated it:

bookshelves: college-years, great-stuff, poetry

recommends it for: Poetry lovers

I read somewhere that Kinnell began this book as a series of bedtime stories/poems to read to his children. A vivid world full of complex poetry and haunting images blending reality and fantasy.

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