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Poetry #2
Walking in Cornwall
Poetry by U.S. fantasy author Ursula Le Guin.
- GenresPoetry
27 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 2008
2 people are currently reading
105 people want to read
About the author
Ursula K. Le Guin
976 books29.7k followersUrsula K. Le Guin published twenty-two novels, eleven volumes of short stories, four collections of essays, twelve books for children, six volumes of poetry and four of translation, and has received many awards: Hugo, Nebula, National Book Award, PEN-Malamud, etc. Her recent publications include the novel Lavinia, an essay collection, Cheek by Jowl, and The Wild Girls. She lived in Portland, Oregon.
She was known for her treatment of gender (The Left Hand of Darkness, The Matter of Seggri), political systems (The Telling, The Dispossessed) and difference/otherness in any other form. Her interest in non-Western philosophies was reflected in works such as "Solitude" and The Telling but even more interesting are her imagined societies, often mixing traits extracted from her profound knowledge of anthropology acquired from growing up with her father, the famous anthropologist, Alfred Kroeber. The Hainish Cycle reflects the anthropologist's experience of immersing themselves in new strange cultures since most of their main characters and narrators (Le Guin favoured the first-person narration) are envoys from a humanitarian organization, the Ekumen, sent to investigate or ally themselves with the people of a different world and learn their ways.
She was known for her treatment of gender (The Left Hand of Darkness, The Matter of Seggri), political systems (The Telling, The Dispossessed) and difference/otherness in any other form. Her interest in non-Western philosophies was reflected in works such as "Solitude" and The Telling but even more interesting are her imagined societies, often mixing traits extracted from her profound knowledge of anthropology acquired from growing up with her father, the famous anthropologist, Alfred Kroeber. The Hainish Cycle reflects the anthropologist's experience of immersing themselves in new strange cultures since most of their main characters and narrators (Le Guin favoured the first-person narration) are envoys from a humanitarian organization, the Ekumen, sent to investigate or ally themselves with the people of a different world and learn their ways.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
January 31, 2022
A lovely little chapbook of 3 long poems. Not at all genre, but rather like a memoir, history and introspection about the parallels of the lives of those that inhabited the ancient landmarks encountered on the walks and those that live there now (including the animals) and her and her family all rolled into one. Clearly she had lots of time with her thoughts and impressions on these walks. Very evocative.
March 8, 2013
This is a very slim volume. It contains three poems, none of them long, written about a holiday in Cornwall in the 1970's. It is padded out with some reproductions of paintings by local artists, bibliographies of the author and of the publisher, a very short biography of the author, several versions of the title page, and (with an air of faint desperation) several pages that are completely blank.
None the less, it's a very treasured part of my library and I felt it was well worth the money. The writing is superb, Le Guin at her best, and captures the landscape of a wonderful part of the world.
Here's a short sample:
"It was home once, Chysauster village was.
Nine families, their cattle, their hearthfires.
O small cold hearths, so old, so old
yet you could light a fire in them tonight.
It would be the same fire.
We don't need very much:
Water and warmth and walls, the flickering ring of faces.
There is a room as round as any coin
and filled brimful with sunlight.
That was a woman's room, I think.
The roofs are off, the wooden walls are gone
the centerposts are gone, but not the hollowed stones..."
None the less, it's a very treasured part of my library and I felt it was well worth the money. The writing is superb, Le Guin at her best, and captures the landscape of a wonderful part of the world.
Here's a short sample:
"It was home once, Chysauster village was.
Nine families, their cattle, their hearthfires.
O small cold hearths, so old, so old
yet you could light a fire in them tonight.
It would be the same fire.
We don't need very much:
Water and warmth and walls, the flickering ring of faces.
There is a room as round as any coin
and filled brimful with sunlight.
That was a woman's room, I think.
The roofs are off, the wooden walls are gone
the centerposts are gone, but not the hollowed stones..."
December 25, 2013
I'm not as much of a fan of Le Guin's poetry as of her prose, but there's no denying her skill with imagery and at turning a phrase just right. This is a very slim volume, though, with only three poems in it, padded out by black and white reproductions of photos and paintings (by other people) of those areas in Cornwall.
Worth owning if you're a really big fan, of course, and it's finding a permanent home on my shelf.
Worth owning if you're a really big fan, of course, and it's finding a permanent home on my shelf.
December 8, 2019
This is not a book. It is a pamphlet containing nine pages of fine antiquarian landscape poetry in a vers libre style.
April 19, 2021
I was so surprised to find a poetry collection by one of my favorite SFF authors about one of my favorite places on the planet. This is a lovely collection with lovely illustrations. She perfectly captures the mystique of the Cornish landscape. Highly recommend to anyone who loves Le Guin and/or Cornwall. A love of poetry is not required. I seldom read poetry, and read this in one sitting. It just absolutely fantastic.
July 21, 2021
The first thing you should know about this 'book' is that it is not, in fact, a 'book'. It contains three (3) poems by Ursula Le Guin. These poems cover about 8 pages. The rest of the 'book' consists of: a table of contents, a title page, another title page, full-page images of random paintings of Cornwall, a potted author bio, a list of 'other books by the author', a note on the poems and all sorts of other front and back and sideways matter to pad out the page numbers so that it is even thick enough to be stapled together in this print-on-demand edition. I felt totally "had"!
The poems themselves are lovely: on selected neolithic monuments of Western Cornwall and the modern American tourists visiting them. This is Le Guin's interest: how peoples of completely other cultures lived, how our cultures clash, how stone and wood, moss and wind evoke emotions of the soul and spirit. But do yourself a favour: find them somewhere on the internet. It'll take you a few minutes to read them.
Four stars for the poems. One star for the false advertising.
Read on my family holiday in Cornwall.
The poems themselves are lovely: on selected neolithic monuments of Western Cornwall and the modern American tourists visiting them. This is Le Guin's interest: how peoples of completely other cultures lived, how our cultures clash, how stone and wood, moss and wind evoke emotions of the soul and spirit. But do yourself a favour: find them somewhere on the internet. It'll take you a few minutes to read them.
Four stars for the poems. One star for the false advertising.
Read on my family holiday in Cornwall.
September 17, 2022
This slim volume contains three poems describing sites in Cornwall that LeGuin visited. The poems read like travelogues or memoirs, with the author reflecting on the experience of visiting ancient castles, the coastline, etc. She considers the history of the land as well as her own experience of it.
LeGuin is a good writer, and I've always thought her style to be somewhat poetic anyway. However, these verses feel a bit inaccessible. I sense that I would connect more with these poems if I had ever been to Cornwall myself. Probably a book for die-hard LeGuin fans only.
LeGuin is a good writer, and I've always thought her style to be somewhat poetic anyway. However, these verses feel a bit inaccessible. I sense that I would connect more with these poems if I had ever been to Cornwall myself. Probably a book for die-hard LeGuin fans only.
February 2, 2019
I am definitely more of a fan of Le Guin's prose than poetry, though her skill with evocative imagery is strong. I'm a tad confuses by this book though. Just three poems, only a couple pages each? Strange. There's lots of padding to make it seem longer.
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January 31, 2024These poems were included in another collection.
May 3, 2025
Absolutely rad
June 4, 2025
I enjoyed this tiny volume — it has lovely images and descriptions. I now have new travel plans! And she is one of my favorite poets…. But, honestly, this volume neither moved my emotions nor possessed the lyrical imagery of her other work. I’ll likely re-read again before a Cornish trip, but not for the poetic value. 3* is where this likely belongs, despite my urge to increase it due to my general fandom.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews