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Poems 1918-1936: The Complete Poems of Charles Reznikoff, Vol. 1
The first of a two volume edition of the complete poems of Charles Reznikoff. This volume covers the years 1918–1936.
- GenresPoetry
222 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 1976
About the author
Charles Reznikoff
72 books39 followersCharles Reznikoff (1894-1976) était avec Carl Rakosi, George Oppen et Louis Zukofsky un des quatre poètes du courant dit «objectiviste» américain, qui commencèrent à publier, de manière confidentielle, dans les années vingt du siècle dernier. De Charles Reznikoff ont été publiés en France, Témoignage, Les États-Unis, 1885-1890, un fragment du présent volume (Hachette/P.O.L, 1981, traduction par Jacques Roubaud), aujourd'hui épuisé ; Le Musicien, roman (P.O.L, 1986, traduction par Emmanuel Hocquard et Claude Richard) ; Holocauste (Prétexte, 2007, traduction Jean-Paul Auxeméry). Dans un entretien publié dans Contemporary Literature Charles Reznikoff, pour décrire sa démarche, citait un poète chinois du XIᵉ siècle qui disait : «La poésie présente l'objet afin de susciter la sensation. Elle doit être très précise sur l'objet et réticente sur l'émotion». Sans doute n'est-il pas inutile, aujourd'hui, de présenter avec Témoignage, Les États-Unis (1885-1915) une des illustrations les plus complètes et convaincantes de ce programme. Témoignage, Les États-Unis (1885-1915) est une vaste fresque pour décrire l'entrée des États-Unis dans l'ère moderne à travers la restitution minutieuse et la mise en forme de rapports d'audience de tribunaux amenés à juger aussi bien de conflits de voisinage ou de succession que d'accidents du travail ou de faits divers atroces. Son édition poursuit le travail entamé en 1981 avec la publication de Témoignage, Les États-Unis, 1885-1890 et du Musicien.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
August 9, 2010
magnificent, precise. i found this at east village books for so cheap and it felt nice to have the real black sparrow edition rather than the ecco black sparrow edition. they used to make such great books.
July 13, 2016
This is a beautiful, poignant, hopeful and despairing collection of poems. It is truly one of the most affective works I’ve ever read. It is very hard to read these simple statements without being moved emotionally.
But I don’t think it’s poetry.
That’s not to diminish or call into question Reznikoff’s art – it is outstanding. However, I view poetry as rhythmic speech. Poetry features pattern(s) and repetition – and I mean this in the broadest possible definition. Poetry features repeated sentence structures, words, ideas, figures of speech and imagery, as well as the more traditional meter, rhyme, alliteration and accent.
I think it’s also important to add the good prose can be beautiful, evocative and intense – and brief. Well-written prose possesses all the features of poetry – except the concentrated rhythmic qualities. Just like poetry, prose should create wonder and awe, it should move and be beautiful. We can’t deny these qualities from the artistic achievements of Faulkner, Joyce and Woolf.
So, remove the line breaks from Reznikoff's mid and late poems (and many 20th and 21th century poets) and what you have is prose. Some, like Reznikoff’s, are beautifully presented and evocative, and most others not so.
It’s interesting to note that Reznikoff’s long line almost always features a mid-line caesura. (Primarily focusing on his 1930s poems.) If you break these line at the caesura, it’s not hard to imagine these as Old Testament poetry (Psalms, Job, etc.) where parallelism between couplets is a key feature. With some minor variations, Reznikoff’s poems could fit this mode.
As it is, and you were to re-format his lines as I suggest, his poetry uses synthetic parallelism in which a thought or action is continued from one line and completed to the next. This, poetically, is the weakest of rhythmic features in poetic parallelism. But with some tweaking the parallelism could be brought out to make this what I call poetry.
It’s also worth noting that Reznikoff was an “Objectivist” poet. As such he is commonly described as “styling them [stories] so as to allow the event itself to speak, as if without interference, without teller.” (Charles Bernstein, “Reznikoff’s Nearness” My Way: Speeches and Poems, page 223) The key here is the “as if” because these are certainly not “objective.” They feature point of view and perspective, and they are artfully put together. This is not simple reporting. The reader, however, is only minimally aware of his art. But readers should be aware at all times that these are tellings and not facts.
Reznikoff’s seeming plainness and accessibility makes people underestimate his true ability. (This is also true of much Old Testament writing – it’s terse plainness often masks subtle effects and messages.)
Again, this is a wonderful book. If you interested in excellent writing, poignant stories, racism, anti-Semitism, poverty, or early 20th century urban life, this is a must-read book.
I read this entire book years ago. Here are my reviews as I re-read them:
Poems *** – It is in these poems that Reznikoff seems to find his voice. The poems are plainer and somewhat darker.
Uriel Accosta: A Play and a Fourth Group of Verse **** – This is at times uplifting, but mostly it is full of painful stories of racism, anti-Semitism and poverty. Frankly, it is as disturbing as it can be without being overly graphic in violence or sexuality. The poems range from simple-but-beautiful descriptions to harsh vignettes of people to painfully ironic (O Henry-esque) stories.
These are fragments about people losing their livelihood, losing their lives, taking their lives, struggling to survive racism and hatred, and trying to survive. Some, I believe, are autobiographical. The rest, I’m not sure where Reznikoff found them or if they are made up. (I believe they are imaginative tellings of real peoples’ stories.)
The play Uriel Accosta was not included in the book. (I’d love to read that.)
Five Groups of Verse *** – These are a bit lighter and more lyrical that the preceding set. Still, very moving.
But I don’t think it’s poetry.
That’s not to diminish or call into question Reznikoff’s art – it is outstanding. However, I view poetry as rhythmic speech. Poetry features pattern(s) and repetition – and I mean this in the broadest possible definition. Poetry features repeated sentence structures, words, ideas, figures of speech and imagery, as well as the more traditional meter, rhyme, alliteration and accent.
I think it’s also important to add the good prose can be beautiful, evocative and intense – and brief. Well-written prose possesses all the features of poetry – except the concentrated rhythmic qualities. Just like poetry, prose should create wonder and awe, it should move and be beautiful. We can’t deny these qualities from the artistic achievements of Faulkner, Joyce and Woolf.
So, remove the line breaks from Reznikoff's mid and late poems (and many 20th and 21th century poets) and what you have is prose. Some, like Reznikoff’s, are beautifully presented and evocative, and most others not so.
It’s interesting to note that Reznikoff’s long line almost always features a mid-line caesura. (Primarily focusing on his 1930s poems.) If you break these line at the caesura, it’s not hard to imagine these as Old Testament poetry (Psalms, Job, etc.) where parallelism between couplets is a key feature. With some minor variations, Reznikoff’s poems could fit this mode.
As it is, and you were to re-format his lines as I suggest, his poetry uses synthetic parallelism in which a thought or action is continued from one line and completed to the next. This, poetically, is the weakest of rhythmic features in poetic parallelism. But with some tweaking the parallelism could be brought out to make this what I call poetry.
It’s also worth noting that Reznikoff was an “Objectivist” poet. As such he is commonly described as “styling them [stories] so as to allow the event itself to speak, as if without interference, without teller.” (Charles Bernstein, “Reznikoff’s Nearness” My Way: Speeches and Poems, page 223) The key here is the “as if” because these are certainly not “objective.” They feature point of view and perspective, and they are artfully put together. This is not simple reporting. The reader, however, is only minimally aware of his art. But readers should be aware at all times that these are tellings and not facts.
Reznikoff’s seeming plainness and accessibility makes people underestimate his true ability. (This is also true of much Old Testament writing – it’s terse plainness often masks subtle effects and messages.)
Again, this is a wonderful book. If you interested in excellent writing, poignant stories, racism, anti-Semitism, poverty, or early 20th century urban life, this is a must-read book.
I read this entire book years ago. Here are my reviews as I re-read them:
Poems *** – It is in these poems that Reznikoff seems to find his voice. The poems are plainer and somewhat darker.
Uriel Accosta: A Play and a Fourth Group of Verse **** – This is at times uplifting, but mostly it is full of painful stories of racism, anti-Semitism and poverty. Frankly, it is as disturbing as it can be without being overly graphic in violence or sexuality. The poems range from simple-but-beautiful descriptions to harsh vignettes of people to painfully ironic (O Henry-esque) stories.
These are fragments about people losing their livelihood, losing their lives, taking their lives, struggling to survive racism and hatred, and trying to survive. Some, I believe, are autobiographical. The rest, I’m not sure where Reznikoff found them or if they are made up. (I believe they are imaginative tellings of real peoples’ stories.)
The play Uriel Accosta was not included in the book. (I’d love to read that.)
Five Groups of Verse *** – These are a bit lighter and more lyrical that the preceding set. Still, very moving.
April 23, 2012
Reznikoff was a Jewish poet living in Brooklyn. Most of his poems are extremely short, some only a sentence or a few lines long. Many focus on the challenges and joys of being Jewish in 'a strange land', or close observations of natural beauty while living in the city. There are also extended meditations on the Old Testament and accounts of Jews surviving persecution over the centuries.
A couple of my favorites:
God saw Adam in a town
without flowers and trees and fields to look upon,
and so gave him Eve
to be all these.
There is no furniture for a room
like a beautiful woman.
It was in my heart to give her wine and dainties,
silken gowns, furs against the wind;
a woolen scarf,
coffee and bread was all that I could buy;
It is enough, she said.
It was in my heart to show her foreign lands,
at least the fields beyond the city:
I could not pay our way;
when she would see a row of street-lamps shining,
How beautiful, she would say.
A couple of my favorites:
God saw Adam in a town
without flowers and trees and fields to look upon,
and so gave him Eve
to be all these.
There is no furniture for a room
like a beautiful woman.
It was in my heart to give her wine and dainties,
silken gowns, furs against the wind;
a woolen scarf,
coffee and bread was all that I could buy;
It is enough, she said.
It was in my heart to show her foreign lands,
at least the fields beyond the city:
I could not pay our way;
when she would see a row of street-lamps shining,
How beautiful, she would say.
Read
August 18, 2008please hunt out recordings of Reznikoff reading, like at Penn Sound (let Google help you find it), he is so energetic and cheerful about presenting his poems. the Objectivists, so far as that term can engage our thoughts, were politically tuned, with a freedom from the inflated.
September 17, 2007
jerusalem the golden and going to and fro walking up and donw are high points
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews