Selected & New Poems

by Jim Harrison

Jim Harrison return to the world of poetry after a self-imposed hiatus caused by his exhaustion after writing Letters to Yesenin and Returning to Earth (both included in their entirety in this volume). During this period Harrison wrote Legends of the Fall —a collection of novellas—and two Farmer and Warlock . He evolved a new approach to his poetry, hoping to avoid both academic formalism and the vogue of hygienic confessions. The voice of the selected poems speaks with the courage, intelligence, and wit that is Harrison’s alone.

“Jim Harrison grew up in northern Michigan and shares with that other Michigan poet, Theodore Roethke, not only the longing to be part of the instinctual world, but also the remarkable knowledge of plant and animal life that comes only with long familiarity and close observation. This raises an incidental How many more poets of this kind will we see in the United States? It is a melancholy thought that Mr. Harrison may be the last of the species.”— Poetry

Genres: Poetry

224 pages, Paperback

First published May 15, 1982

About the author

Jim Harrison was born in Grayling, Michigan, to Winfield Sprague Harrison, a county agricultural agent, and Norma Olivia (Wahlgren) Harrison, both avid readers. He married Linda King in 1959 with whom he has two daughters.

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

His awards include National Academy of Arts grants (1967, 68, 69), a Guggenheim Fellowship (1969-70), the Spirit of the West Award from the Mountain & Plains Booksellers Association, and election to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2007).

Much of Harrison's writing depicts sparsely populated regions of North America with many stories set in places such as Nebraska's Sand Hills, Michigan's Upper Peninsula, Montana's mountains, and along the Arizona-Mexico border.

Reviews

[Ryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

have been reading through Harrison's collections via the longer life-long collection The Shape of the Journey that he put together himself, and all the selections from this one are also in that one (though SotJ has a lot more poems and some extra materials from Harrison also).

the "New Poems" section is also in SotJ so the star review is mostly for that- would almost be a 4-star but is just not too cohesive (like the title suggests, it's just some new poems) and not quite as striking as some other things he's done. that said, these still have their share of humor, striking images, and insights!

if I hadn't read the other poems in this collection before, it would be an easy 5-star; I just recommend readers skip this and go straight to Shape of the Journey, because it's everything in here plus a lot more.

[Scott · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was difficult to read as my cat kept trying to bury it.

[Nicole · Rating 2 out of 5]

I struggle with Jim Harrison, there is something about it that I do like or rather I gravitate to, but there is something about him that I do not like what to ever, something that repeals me. I don't know what it is, for either one, but there is something about his work that I am constantly torn about. So I have mixed feelings.

I genuinely liked some of the poems but then others were eh, okay and then there were so many that I was just pulling myself through to finish. I am just glad to be finished. I don't know if I will give him another shot but I feel like I did with reading this book so we will see.

[Kent · Rating 4 out of 5]

His older stuff is much more difficult to engage. Very good work and in some instances excellent.

[Sher · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 the natural world, hard edge, strong male-ness

[Matthew · Rating 4 out of 5]

stunning imagery. masculine, but not chauvinistic or cliche. hails from the U.P. with an elequent and subtle eye for the details of the landscape