First Light: Mother And Son Poems: Mother & Son Poems: A Twentieth-Century American Selection

by Jason Shinder

The first anthology of its kind, bringing together a diverse selection of new and well-known modern American poets writing on the theme of mother-son relationships; with works by eighty poets, including Sylvia Plath, e. e. cummings, William Carlos Williams, and Langston Hughes.

Genres: Poetry

176 pages, Paperback

First published April 30, 1992

Reviews

[lola Franco]

as with any anthology, some poems are so much better than others. but i enjoyed them all.

[Erik Akre · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was surprised and delighted at how much I enjoyed this anthology of poems. The works deliver an unexpected poignancy, all the more so because they are layered, complex, and honest expositions of the mother-son relationship. Through its pages, the reader finds a great array of attitudes and experiences related to motherhood and son-hood. Rather than neatly fitting the topic into a sentimental and feel-good box, these poems open things up and release a range of possibilities that cannot refer to any one (or even many) aspect and experience of mothers and sons. A reader will find his or herself in the poems, but he or she will also find people and relationships never known, or often never desired. In this way, First Light shows not just what is, but what might be or might have been, or could never be for one particular mother-son relationship.

It's worth trying. Makes a good gift.

[Rochelle Jewel Shapiro · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's wonderful to pick up a book of older poems and find Stephen Spender and Randall Jarell, etc.