History of My Heart: Poems

by Robert Pinsky

History of My Heart , winner of the William Carlos Williams Prize, first appeared in 1984. In The New Republic , J.D. McClatchy called it "one of the best books of the past decade." It is Pinsky's third volume of poems--and an ideal introduction to the work of a vital and original contemporary American poet.

Genres: Poetry

64 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1984

About the author

Robert Pinsky is an American poet, essayist, literary critic, and translator. From 1997 to 2000, he served as Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress. Pinsky is the author of nineteen books, most of which are collections of his own poetry. His published work also includes critically acclaimed translations, including The Inferno of Dante Alighieri and The Separate Notebooks by Czesław Miłosz. He teaches at Boston University and is the poetry editor at Slate.
wikipedia

Reviews

[Robert Reinhard · Rating 5 out of 5]

A stunning book of poems that begins with the rolling, enlarged and visionary "The Figured Wheel" - as large as the wheel of Tibetan Buddhism - in 49 lines collecting the simplest and grandest of existing matter. The title poem - History of My Heart - reads like Wordsworth of The Prelude and the growth of Pinsky's poet mind. The "Song of Reasons" finds a human central commonality within the song Come Back to Sorrento (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUuKp... ), the Dukes of Levis-Mirepoix who are permitted to ride horseback into Notre Dame, people in magazines and a child learning to read from a column in the daily newspaper. it's fascinating.

[Stewart Lindstrom · Rating 2 out of 5]

Wow this was a disappointment. From a technical standpoint, good. Pinsky is a master poet. And yet, somehow his poetry feels so lifeless. The titular poem was excellent, however. Short moments of greatness throughout. I'll have to give Pinsky another try further down the line.

[Corin · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Paula · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was published about twenty-five years ago. It's divided into three sections and includes poems that are very traditional: they have regular meter, line length, stanza size, and poetic devices (end rhyme, alliteration, etc.). They also tend to be very personal, if not exactly confessional.

I think that the strongest poems are those contained in the third section of the book. The title poem is the only one in section two, as it is a fairly long poem on its own, and begins, presumably, on the night of Pinsky's conception. Death is a common theme carrying itself throughout the poems in the book, but not every poems deals with it explicitly.

I'm not sure if I can see or hear any echos of William Carlos Williams in this book, but it won the prize names after him. It's an obvious choice for those who prefer traditional poetic styles and themes, though, and this is a pretty good book of poems by a former poetic laureate of the country.

[Darrell · Rating 4 out of 5]

"History of My Heart" is a good collection where the poems pay homage to the speaker's past. It's been a while since I read this, but I labeled poems in my book which I thought were good.

"Three on Luck" is a poem that foreshadows the rest of the collection. Yes, the collection is separated into three sections; however, each section in "Three on Luck" is a dramatic monologue that encompasses and sometimes critiques the idea of memory or wanting a memory to be something when it's fuzzy at best.

That's the only poem of note that I had for this collection. I didn't hate the collection; however, there weren't that many memorable poems to me. A lot of memorable lines in individual poems like "[...]concentric peals of brightness / ringing in the cold air" (6-7, The Living). But none of the poems except one actually stick to me or make me want to return to them. Overall, a good collection with good lines but forgettable poems.

[Francis · Rating 3 out of 5]

After completing Sadness and Hapiness yesterday, and was pleased to see an evolution with this collection. I found the poems more refined, tighter, and the through-line more easy to follow. Each had a narrative that unfolded in a way that engaged me as a reader in a less convoluted way than the previous selection of poems I read. Though again, it was very "hit or miss" for me. Some poems ("The Cold," "Three on Luck," "Flowers," and parts of "History of my Heart") grabbed me more than others. Overall, a solid body of poems but simply not an outstanding collection.