What do you think?
Rate this book
Collected Poems 1923-1953
- GenresPoetry
127 pages, Library Binding
First published January 1, 1954
40 people want to read
About the author
Louise Bogan
72 books37 followersShe was appointed the fourth Poet Laureate to the Library of Congress in 1945.
As poetry editor of The New Yorker magazine for nearly 40 years, Bogan played a major role in shaping mainstream poetic sensibilities of the mid-20th Century.
The Poetry Foundation notes that Bogan has been called by some critics the most accomplished woman poet of the twentieth century. It further notes that, "Some critics have placed her in a category of brilliant minor poets described as the "reactionary generation." This group eschewed the prevailing Modernist forms that would come to dominate the literary landscape of the era in favor of more traditional techniques.
Dictionary of Literary Biography contributor Brett C. Millier named Bogan "one of the finest lyric poets America has produced," and added that "the fact that she was a woman and that she defended formal, lyric poetry in an age of expansive experimentation made evaluation of her work, until quite recently, somewhat condescending."
Elizabeth Frank's biography of Louise Bogan, Louise Bogan: A Portrait, won a Pulitzer Prize in 1986.
As poetry editor of The New Yorker magazine for nearly 40 years, Bogan played a major role in shaping mainstream poetic sensibilities of the mid-20th Century.
The Poetry Foundation notes that Bogan has been called by some critics the most accomplished woman poet of the twentieth century. It further notes that, "Some critics have placed her in a category of brilliant minor poets described as the "reactionary generation." This group eschewed the prevailing Modernist forms that would come to dominate the literary landscape of the era in favor of more traditional techniques.
Dictionary of Literary Biography contributor Brett C. Millier named Bogan "one of the finest lyric poets America has produced," and added that "the fact that she was a woman and that she defended formal, lyric poetry in an age of expansive experimentation made evaluation of her work, until quite recently, somewhat condescending."
Elizabeth Frank's biography of Louise Bogan, Louise Bogan: A Portrait, won a Pulitzer Prize in 1986.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
February 27, 2023
"Memory long since put by,-to what end the dream
That drags back lived-out life with the wrong words,
The substitute meaning?
Those that you once knew there play out false time,
Elaborate yesterday's words, that they were deaf to,
Bring dead ten years.-Call back in anguish
The anger in childhood that defiled the house
In walls and timber with its violence?
Now you must listen again
To your own tears, shed as a child, hold the bruise
With your hand, and weep, fallen against the wall,
And beg, Don't, don't, while the pitiful rage goes on
That cannot stem itself?"
so many of these poems were- words for sure.
That drags back lived-out life with the wrong words,
The substitute meaning?
Those that you once knew there play out false time,
Elaborate yesterday's words, that they were deaf to,
Bring dead ten years.-Call back in anguish
The anger in childhood that defiled the house
In walls and timber with its violence?
Now you must listen again
To your own tears, shed as a child, hold the bruise
With your hand, and weep, fallen against the wall,
And beg, Don't, don't, while the pitiful rage goes on
That cannot stem itself?"
so many of these poems were- words for sure.
September 28, 2020
Picked up this first edition of Louise Bogan’s Collected Poems at Normal’s Used Books in Baltimore when I was back there for NCTE in November. It was my favorite place in Baltimore when I went to Hopkins and returning was such a joy. I bought only books I wasn’t looking for, like I did back before smartphones. Anyway, these poems were surprising! I’d never read any of Bogan’s stuff, and for as many times as she writes some lyric pastoral rhyming verse, she goes for the kill shot.
April 2, 2013
This book kicked my butt. I worked for every moment of connection and let go lots more. But at the end, there's "Train Tune," an easy rocking song that dropped me off at home.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews