The Collected Poems of Ted Berrigan by Ted Berrigan (13-Apr-2007) Paperback

by Ted Berrigan

This collection brings Ted Berrigan's published and unpublished poetry together in a single authoritative volume for the first time. Edited by the poet Alice Notley, Berrigan's second wife, and their two sons, The Collected Poems demonstrates the remarkable range, power, and importance of Berrigan's work. This volume makes Berrigan's achievement widely accessible and includes the first presentation of the sequence Easter Monday as a whole and in the order authorized by Berrigan shortly before his death.

Genres: Poetry, American

Paperback

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

Berrigan was born in Providence, Rhode Island, on November 15, 1934. After high school, he spent a year at Providence College before joining the U.S. Army. After three years in the Army, he finished his college studies at the University of Tulsa in Oklahoma, where he received a BA in English in 1959 and fell just short of the requirements for a M.A. in 1962. Berrigan was married to Sandy Berrigan, also a poet, and they had two children, David Berrigan and Kate Berrigan. He and his second wife, the poet Alice Notley, were active in the poetry scene in Chicago for several years, then moved to New York City, where he edited various magazines and books.

A prominent figure in the second generation of the New York School of Poets, Berrigan was peer to Jim Carroll, Anselm Hollo, Alice Notley, Ron Padgett, Anne Waldman, Bernadette Mayer, and Lewis Warsh. He collaborated with Padgett and Joe Brainard on Bean Spasms, a work significant in its rejection of traditional concepts of ownership. Though Berrigan, Padgett, and Brainard all wrote individual poems for the book, and collaborated on many others, no authors were listed for individual poems.

The poet Frank O'Hara called Berrigan's most significant publication, The Sonnets, "a fact of modern poetry." A telling reflection on the era that produced it, The Sonnets beautifully weaves together traditional elements of the Shakespearean sonnet form with the disjunctive structure and cadence of T. S. Eliot's The Waste Land and Berrigan's own literary innovations and personal experiences.

Berrigan died on July 4, 1983 at the age of 49. The cause of death was cirrhosis of the liver brought on by hepatitis.

Reviews

[Mitch · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing collection. For those of us who had owned (and in my case, worn out) So Going Around Cities, the Collected surprises, since it is HUGE! and has a lot of work that we (or I) hadn't seen before. I knew Ted's work for years, sat in a class of his (with Alice) back in the 1970's at Naropa. For me, Ted's work has always been like a workshop on the page. The myriad strategies Berrigan employed to write were so smart and funny, the poems themselves so fresh and exciting, that I regarded him as one of the greatest teachers I ever learned from. I remember Ted saying in class once that there were poets who are naturals, that is, they just write and write, and most of what they write is just fabulous (he put O'Hara in this group), and then there are poets who have to work at it, and he counted himself in that company. Regardless of whether or not I would agree with his grouping, I am still in awe of the work he produced, and am inspired by the way he did it. Brilliant and hilarious, and true. ESSENTIAL reading.

[Carrie Lorig · Rating 4 out of 5]

ted berrigan,
i want to bathe in the pot bellies of your sweatshirts.
love,
carrie

[Scott Holstad · Rating 3 out of 5]

For many years, everyone told me to read Berrigan, that I'd love him. And I have now, several times. And guess what? I don't love him. Oh, I understand the appeal. It's just that I think there are many other poets in a similar vein who are simply better and more interesting. In a way, he kind of reminds me of another "hip," popular/populist poet and writer -- Brautigan. I do think Berrigan's better, but it's that whole "famous for being famous" thing, for me, as opposed to other New York School poets like Frank O'Hara and Anne Waldman, both of whom I enjoy and appreciate (and respect). Hell, I think his wife was better than he was? (Was he the American Ted Hughes?) I realize I'm probably in the minority and that's ok. I have friends in that NY scene, and I appreciate them, but as for me, I'll stick with Bukowski, Ferlinghetti and the West Coast literary scene... Basically, not recommended. Read Frank O'Hara instead.

[Jessie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wish there was an extra star for this one.

[Rick Noland · Rating 1 out of 5]

Pedestrian poesy. This man thought a grocery list could be a poem. Try again. A chatter of Chicklettes...you got to be kidding. Andy Warhol he was not.

[Anika · Rating 5 out of 5]

dear Margie Hello!!!!! Feminine Marvelous and Tough

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has some brilliant areas but unfortunately most of them appeared in earlier collections, mostly in the first two versions of The Sonnets (UA artists) before the Sonnets was co-opted and historically situated in a way as to benefit particular poets who wish to have their names affiliated with Berrigan now that he has passed. The editing is superb, Alice Anselm and Eddie really structured this in a fantastic way, the construction of Easter Monday is wonderful. For a first time reader of Berrigan's work I give a full on five stars to the entire Sonnet section, as well as the poems "Tamborine Life" and "Things to do in Providence" which are excellent transient, travelling poems that endure themselves to America, and Americans if only they would read them. From "Things to do in Providence":

*****

The heart stops briefly when someone dies,
a quick pain as you hear the news, & someone passes
from your outside life to inside. Slowly the heart adjusts
to its new weight, & slowly everything continues, sanely.

*****

Unfortunately the only superior _new_ work for me out of this 650+ pager was two poems "Great Stories from the Chair" and "A Boke" both of which were very different, Ted always held the motto From Frank O'Hara "to write as variously as possible" and it shows up in this pair of poems. This collection for me was disappointing and revealed my worst suspicions about Berrigan's poems: that nearly every single excellent piece already appeared in the collections I have (_The Sonnets_, and _Bean Spasms_, _Many Happy Returns_ and _In the Early Morning Rain_). The day I finished the copy it was depressing, to think I waited two decades to see it all together and now to know that what first attracted me to his work, the technically innovative, often emotionally opening lines, was effaced and erased by pills.

David Baratier, Copyright 2007.

[Ted Burke · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's not enough that we have the same first name and the same Irish second initial, my attraction to Berrigan's poems was the rather nonbelligerent way he ignored the constricting formalities in poetry and rendered something of a record of his thoughts unspooling as he walked through the neighborhood or went about his tasks. "Where Will I Wander" is the title of a recent John Ashbery volume, and it might well be an apt description of Berrigan's style; shambling, personal, messy, yet able to draw out the sublime phrase or the extended insight from the myriad places his stanzas and line shifts would land on. The world radiated a magic and energy well enough without the poet's talents for making essences clear to an audience needing to know something more about what lies behind the veil, and Berrigan's gift were his personable conflations of cartoon logic, antic flights of lyric waxing, and darkest hour reflection , a poetry which, at it's best, seemed less a poem than it did a monologue from someone already aware that their world was extraordinary and that their task was to record one's ongoing incomprehension of the why of the invisible world.

[MKMKMK · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book sort of vaguely helps me understand how some people could have a religion or book they go to for the last word. I don't mean to say that it is perfect. I don't read this (or didn't read it) in order. I don't think it is necessary to do that. In fact, I think if you haven't read this and are thinking about going cover to cover, you might want to chill out a little and just open it up and dive in somewhere. Perhaps Train Ride is a good place to start. I don't agree with those who say The Sonnets is where to start with Berrigan. It just didn't work as a starting ground for me. I think learning of The Sonnets and how it was composed was (is) alone inspirational. But reading them is really better to stumble into.

The Notley notes are also an excellent read (and fucking heartbreaking some of the time). Anyway, if I had to do the dessert island what you bring sort of scenario, this one would be there with me.

[Rodney · Rating 5 out of 5]

Berrigan brought to U.S. poetry an off-the-cuff sense of mastery that seemed to say a poem could be about anything—kids, Pepsi, friends, fights, pills, other books, 3 a.m. walks, and whatever else happens to any of us through the course of a day. This collects all of his books in the order published, a huge feat given the patchwork of small presses that put out his work during his lifetime. Some of the magic rubs off in the elevation from small press lovechild to U.C. acid-free tome, but the adventure of writing poetry as Berrigan practiced it still comes through as an act of sheer joy.

[cristiana · Rating 2 out of 5]

well, i read berrigan's broken sonnets last year. i'm not quite understanding the hoopla re: his work. revolutionary in the sense of his total neediness for ambition???

the idea of a broken, reworked sonnet is not new.

last year a friend said: "he was at times an awful poet, but i still love his work." i think perhaps, it's the myth and idea of berrigan that gets people riled up, rather than his actual work. but perhaps i need to revisit his work.

[Ryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is always difficult to rate collected works. There is much here that I love, and would give five stars, especially the longer poems, though some of the short ones are a little too flippant and I found myself reading over them distractedly. That said, my favorites (the iconic poems, I guess) are amazing and clearly influential. As a whole, though, just shy of five stars.

[Alexis]

this book is huge! I picked it up at the library because alice notley wasn't around and someone said they liked this dude. i won't ever complete it, no, not in time to return it to philadelphia free people's, but it's interesting. very pedestrian.

[john steven · Rating 5 out of 5]

ted berrigan took frank o'hara and injected him with speed*, and voila! we've got a brilliant american poet.

*note: this might literally have happened

[Rusty · Rating 5 out of 5]

These sonnets are taking my head off as I read. How have I missed his work for this long?

[matt Sandler · Rating 5 out of 5]

an absolute pleasure from start to finish, great book for dipping into, as the poems are really incidental, loosening in the best possible sense.

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well, recently read isn't right. I have this on my night stand where it has been for a few months. Every week I think I probably read a few different pieces in it at random.

[Dana · Rating 5 out of 5]

he's better than any of them anywhere anytime

[Renee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Feminine, marvelous, and tough.

[Melody · Rating 5 out of 5]

okay, i'm still reading the notes & reflecting on corresponding poems, but i've read all of the poems at least twice. pending review.

[Todd baron · Rating 5 out of 5]

Re reading for the rest
of time.