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Leonard Cohen

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Leonard Cohen


Born
in Westmount, Québec, Canada
September 21, 1934

Died
November 07, 2016

Website

Genre
Poetry

Influences
Federico García Lorca ...more


Leonard Norman Cohen was a Canadian singer-songwriter, poet and novelist. Cohen published his first book of poetry in Montreal in 1956 and his first novel in 1963.

Cohen's earliest songs (many of which appeared on the 1968 album Songs of Leonard Cohen) were rooted in European folk music melodies and instrumentation, sung in a high baritone. The 1970s were a musically restless period in which his influences broadened to encompass pop, cabaret, and world music. Since the 1980s he has typically sung in lower registers (bass baritone, sometimes bass), with accompaniment from electronic synthesizers and female backing singers.

His work often explores the themes of religion, isolation, sexuality, and complex interpersonal relationships.

Cohen's song ...more

Combine Editions

Average rating: 3.94 · 45,839 ratings · 4,481 reviews · 228 distinct works • Similar authors
Book of Longing
3.99 avg rating — 12,143 ratings — published 2006 — 66 editions
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Beautiful Losers
3.56 avg rating — 7,582 ratings — published 1966
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The Flame
4.04 avg rating — 4,494 ratings — published 2018 — 46 editions
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The Favorite Game
3.81 avg rating — 4,453 ratings — published 1963 — 4 editions
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Stranger Music: Selected Po...
4.37 avg rating — 2,859 ratings — published 1993 — 43 editions
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Leonard Cohen: Poems and Songs
4.41 avg rating — 1,796 ratings — published 2011 — 9 editions
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Book of Mercy
3.99 avg rating — 1,889 ratings — published 1984 — 32 editions
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Let Us Compare Mythologies
by
3.89 avg rating — 1,860 ratings — published 1956 — 27 editions
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Selected Poems, 1956-1968
4.23 avg rating — 1,158 ratings — published 1968 — 20 editions
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A Ballet of Lepers: A Novel...
3.54 avg rating — 1,214 ratings — published 2022 — 26 editions
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More books by Leonard Cohen…
Quotes by Leonard Cohen  (?)
Quotes are added by the Goodreads community and are not verified by Goodreads. (Learn more)

“There is a crack in everything.
That's how the light gets in.”
― Leonard Cohen, Selected Poems, 1956-1968
tags: hope, light
3045 likes
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“Poetry is just the evidence of life. If your life is burning well, poetry is just the ash.”
― Leonard Cohen
tags: ash, evidence, inspiration, life, poetry, writing
986 likes
Like

“The last refuge of the insomniac is a sense of superiority to the sleeping world.”
― Leonard Cohen
tags: insomnia, sleeping-world, superiority
826 likes
Like

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