Poems 1955-2005

by Anne Stevenson

Anne Stevenson (1933-2020) was a major American and British poet. Born in Cambridge of American parents, she grew up in the States but has lived in Britain for most of her adult life. Rooted in close observation of the world and acute psychological insight, her poems continually question how we see and think about the world. They are incisive as well as entertaining, marrying critical rigour with personal feeling, and a sharp wit with an original brand of serious humour. Poems 1955-2005 is a remaking of Anne Stevenson’s earlier Collected Poems (Oxford University Press), drawing on over a dozen previous collections as well as new poems, with this book’s new thematic arrangements emphasising the craft, coherence and architecture of her life’s work. It was expanded to include poems from her first two Bloodaxe collections, Granny Scarecrow (2000) and A Report from the Border (2003).

Genres: Poetry

413 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

Anne Stevenson was an American-British poet and biographer.

Reviews

[Robert Reinhard · Rating 5 out of 5]

A strong poetic line from Marianne Moore to Elizabeth Bishop to the original Anne Stevenson. Unexpected.

[Carolyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

these poems speak to me. The soul is too blunt an instrument...

[Cooch · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best poems here are equal to anything written in the last hundred years

Although there are some failures, they are mostly born of experimentation and of boundary pushing. She is clearly one of the major modern poets.

[Fiona Kiefer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant is too silly a word to describe Anne Stevenson’s work. She is woman, god, and world.

[M.B. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Difficult to rate this one - high or low? Uneven, uneven, uneven. Many resonant, intelligent crafted memorable poems; much that is grumpy, clumsy, narrow-minded. So, because I really liked it one minute, and hated it the next, this book gets an 'ok'.

[Peter B Waddell · Rating 5 out of 5]

So many great poems! Of particular interest is how Anne Stevenson finds...makes form and voice to best deliver her poetic sounds, lines, ideas. There is a freedom from obvious style that is unusual and seriously impressive, each poem an isolate with integrity. Wonderful.

[Farhandeanna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Impressive!