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Double Shadow
A stunning new collection of poems from the author of Speak Low
Comparing any human life to “a restless choir” of impulses variously in conflict and at peace with one another, Carl Phillips, in his eleventh book, examines the double shadow that a life casts forth: “now risk, and now / faintheartedness.” In poems that both embody and inhabit this double shadow, risk and fai
Hardcover, 80 pages
Published
March 15th 2011
by Farrar, Straus and Giroux
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Double Shadow is the eleventh collection of poetry by Carl Phillips, although the first that I have read. The title refers to the duality of life, the double shadow it casts, the contrasting worlds a single moment can create. The collection also deals strongly with the theme of loss and grief. In "Next Stop, Arcadia", Phillips ends with the question, "which is better? It's hard to decide: / the ugliness of weeping, or the tears themselves?", an example of the conflict, both external and internal...more
It breaks my heart a little to give this book three stars because two of my favorite Phillips poems are in this collection ("Cathedral" and "Civilization," both of which I heard him read a few years before this book was published). Those two poems mean so much to me, and yet I can't ignore the fact that a lot of the other poems in this book mean so little. Much of the book felt overwrought and repetitive, and while I know Phillips tends towards certain types of abstractions, images, and syntax,...more
This is essential reading for anyone over the age of 35 — and/or for anyone who has grappled with true loss, had his/her face rubbed in mortality, or lost sleep/weight/friends over the question of cap-W why. These poems are urgent; they are precise and beautiful in their wrestling with the multilayered mess of existing.
"...I think
to be useless doesn't have to mean
not somehow mattering..."
Chances are, I'm going to carry this book in my bag for the next few months.
"...I think
to be useless doesn't have to mean
not somehow mattering..."
Chances are, I'm going to carry this book in my bag for the next few months.
Decided to read some of this year's nominees for the National Book Award in the poetry category.
Some of the poems in this collection hit me, some didn't as much, but I enjoyed it overall.
My favorite line was from Sky Coming Forward and said this: "What if, between this one and the one / we hoped for, there's a third life, taking its own / slow, dreamlike hold, even now--blooming in spite of us?"
Some of the poems in this collection hit me, some didn't as much, but I enjoyed it overall.
My favorite line was from Sky Coming Forward and said this: "What if, between this one and the one / we hoped for, there's a third life, taking its own / slow, dreamlike hold, even now--blooming in spite of us?"
Decided to read some of this year's nominees for the National Book Award in the poetry category.
Some of the poems in this collection hit me, some didn't as much, but I enjoyed it overall.
My favorite line was from Sky Coming Forward and said this: "What if, between this one and the one / we hoped for, there's a third life, taking its own / slow, dreamlike hold, even now--blooming in spite of us?"
Some of the poems in this collection hit me, some didn't as much, but I enjoyed it overall.
My favorite line was from Sky Coming Forward and said this: "What if, between this one and the one / we hoped for, there's a third life, taking its own / slow, dreamlike hold, even now--blooming in spite of us?"
The primary themes in this volume are the duality in the nature of things: "at/once both a thing that blinds and a form of blindness" from On Horseback, and the duality of opposing forces that allows opposites to exist: "the light without which/there would/be no shadow" from Roses. Also, the existence of a different or "third life....even now--blooming, in spite of us" from Sky Coming Forward. This duality (read complexity) sometimes makes the speaker uncomfortable with the two-sided coin of him...more
A National Book Award finalist, this is my first experience with Carl Phillips.
The poems vary in style and focus, and throughout there are italicized words that seem to be someone else's voice. Another male. A lover? Friend? His double shadow?
The poems vary in style and focus, and throughout there are italicized words that seem to be someone else's voice. Another male. A lover? Friend? His double shadow?
Its probably been years since I sat down with a book of poetry. If I hadn't won this book on goodreads, I probably wouldn't have read it - and would've missed out on beautifully written poetry. I'm so glad I took the time to read it.
I recommend his poems if you're contemplating the meaning of life.
A few good lines. I'd have to say, mostly, I didn't get it.
Oct 05, 2011
Briana
rated it
1 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
NO ONE.
Recommended to Briana by:
Goodreads Giveaways.
PIECE. OF. CRAP. I hated this book. It was a waste of my time, but I refused to rate it without reading all of it. The poems are nonsense and gibberish. Practically just random words thrown together...devoid of meaning (at least, to me). Retails for $23.00. That is a big fat JOKE! UGH. This book sucks. =( It is going in the trash!
Woot!!!!!!! I just won this book on Goodreads Giveaways! I can't wait to read it! Thank you for the opportunity to win great books!! <3
Woot!!!!!!! I just won this book on Goodreads Giveaways! I can't wait to read it! Thank you for the opportunity to win great books!! <3
Won as a First Reads
A beautiful book of poems. They all seem to be connected in some form or another and reading them in this book seemed like the best way to read them. They made sense and drew connections from previous one. Mr. Phillips is an amazing poet and I haven't enjoyed reading poetry for a long time and this time I truly did. :) 5/5 stars.
A beautiful book of poems. They all seem to be connected in some form or another and reading them in this book seemed like the best way to read them. They made sense and drew connections from previous one. Mr. Phillips is an amazing poet and I haven't enjoyed reading poetry for a long time and this time I truly did. :) 5/5 stars.
Not my favorite book of Carl Phillips' (I've got 5 or 6) but even so, its still a Chuck Norris roundhouse kick to the gut.
"Look at me. Little ocean, getting farther away.
Now I touch at once both everything and nothing. "
"Look at me. Little ocean, getting farther away.
Now I touch at once both everything and nothing. "
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Carl Phillips is the highly acclaimed author of 10 collections of poetry.
He was born in 1959 to an Air Force family, who moved regularly throughout his childhood, until finally settling in his high-school years at Cape Cod, Massachusetts. He holds degrees from Harvard University, the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, and Boston University and taught high-school Latin for eight years.
His first...more
More about Carl Phillips...
He was born in 1959 to an Air Force family, who moved regularly throughout his childhood, until finally settling in his high-school years at Cape Cod, Massachusetts. He holds degrees from Harvard University, the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, and Boston University and taught high-school Latin for eight years.
His first...more
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Oct 05, 2011 05:59pm