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The Poem and the Journey: 60 Poems for the Journey of Life
by
Prize-winning poet Ruth Padel is renowned as a guide to understanding today's poetry. Her much-loved 52 Ways of Looking at a Poem introduced the contemporary poetry scene and discussed individual poems. Her new book, invaluable for all who want to write as well as read poems, reveals the journey of thought, language and music within sixty more poems and also shows how poem
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Paperback, 384 pages
Published
January 3rd 2008
by Vintage
(first published 2007)
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The conceit of this volume is that Ruth Padel, poet and descendant of Charles Darwin has chosen sixty 20th century English poems and written a commentary on each one which is printed on the facing page. At one time I read this regularly while eating breakfast. I would read a poem, then the commentary, chew and mull things over for a while then re-read the poem. Muesli, even eaten with yoghurt, is the human equivalent of chewing the cud. The food determined that the breakfast reading be ruminativ
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read for class. enjoyed most of the poems
The truth is I always felt like I needed a guide to read poetry, as I am aware of how shallow my approach can be. I find it difficult to resist seeing how the poetry fits into my own narrative when there’s so much more background, context and patterns to unpack and read between the lines. Ruth Padel’s anthology of poems and their journey definitely helped train my reading muscles, and I will revisit the poems with a more learned eye.
Of every five or six books that I read two will be poetry. It’s been a trend for years yet this book has shown me how much more there is to enjoy and gain from poems. Thank you for adding another carriageway to the motorway and a leafy lane in parallel.
i loved this book. i always knew that by not reading poetry my reading was being limited. my profs in uni didn't do much to install a love of poetry though. this book makes poetry accessible. there is a short intro section, discussing modern poetry, how to approach it. then, sixty poems, each followed by a discussion, a way of looking at the poem. they are mostly british poets, though some americans, and of course, milosz. highly recommended. i will buy her other book, 52 ways to look at a poem.
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Jun 18, 2009
Ciaran
rated it
really liked it
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review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Everyone
Fabulous poems... however... though Padels insights are really very fascinating, I do feel that at times they can detract from one's enjoyment of the poem in question, though in time one grows to understand and appreciate the poem more for them.
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This is a book to savour, micro chapter by micro chapter. I hope to be reading this for the rest of the year.
The Poem and the Journey: And Sixty Poems to Read Along the Way by Ruth Padel (2007)
It's a brilliant approach to the craft of writing poetry.
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Ruth is a British poet and writer. Her most recent book The Mara Crossing is a mixed-genre meditation on migration, prose and poetry. She has published eight poetry collections, a novel, and eight books of non-fiction, including three on reading poetry. She also presents Radio 4′s Poetry Workshop, visiting poetry groups across the UK to discuss their poems.
Her awards include First Prize in the UK ...more
Her awards include First Prize in the UK ...more
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