Catching Life by the Throat: How to Read Poetry and Why [With CD]

by Josephine Hart

This one-of-a-kind anthology, including an audio CD, brings eight great English-language poets to life. Catching Life by the Throat unites the sound, sense, and sensibility that lie at the heart of great poetry. It features eight great poets, with brief, accessible essays concerning their life and work and a selection of their poems, and it is accompanied by an 80-minute CD recorded live at the British Library: Ralph Fiennes reading Auden, Edward Fox reading Eliot, Roger Moore reading Kipling, Harold Pinter reading Larkin, and more. Whether you believe (like Robert Frost, who inspired the title) that poetry is a way of “taking life by the throat” or (like T. S. Eliot) that it “is one person talking to another,” nobody does it better than the poets featured in this book. For a novice discovering the rich heritage of English-language verse or a seasoned poetry reader, Catching Life by the Throat is an extraordinary introduction to eight iconic poets.

Genres: Poetry, Nonfiction, Literature, Writing

256 pages, Hardcover

First published January 2, 2006

About the author

Josephine Hart was born and educated in Ireland. She was a director of Haymarket Publishing, in London, before going on to produce a number of West End plays, including The House of Bernarda Alba by Frederico Garcia Lorea, The Vortex by Noel Coward, and The Black Prince by Iris Murdoch. She was married to Maurice Saatchi and had two sons. She was the author of Damage. Hart died, aged 69, of ovarian cancer in June 2011.

Reviews

[Libbie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Catching Life by the Throat is an interesting poetry anthology showcasing poems from a number of poets. Some I knew, some I didn't. It has been sat on my shelves for a while now so figured I would finally give it a read.

In format, this book introduces each poet, giving us insight into them and their poetry. Before showcasing some of their poems.

Poetry is such a subjective medium. Even so, this book feels more like it is suited for a reader who either wants to write their own poetry, or is an academic who wants to analyse these poets in detail. I am neither of those and as such this was a bit of a miss for me.

[Leslie · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a great introduction to, as Josephine Hart categorizes them, "Eight Great Poets"! Although familiar with Emily Dickinson, T.S. Eliot, and Sylvia Plath, I was happy to be introduced to the work of Auden, Kipling, Larkin, Marianne Moore, and Yeats; how I managed to have missed them all these years, I do not know. I particularly surprised myself by really liking Larkin.

Hart introduces each poet with a short biography, then a line or two on each of the poems included in the collection, and then the poems themselves. I could hear her voice (having listened to a couple of CDs that collect segments of her Poetry Hour) in the bios and intros, and although I am far from understanding every poem, I'm happy to have had this introduction.

[Jane Riordan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sometimes I think that poetry is a little like modern art, if something sparks within you or you find yourself on the same wavelength as the artist / author, then it can be a really rewarding experience but, at other times, you just fail to click.

I opted to read this collection because I felt that there were well known poets in there whom I hadn't really studied in any detail and others that I wasn't aware of, but perhaps those aren't the best reasons and it should have been a heart decision, rather than a head one; I was uninspired and then felt guilty in that sense of inadequacy that only arty things, such as poetry or modern art, can do to you.

So, not for me this time, the search for 'my' poet continues.

[Eric · Rating 2 out of 5]

Although subtitled "How to Read Poetry and Why," the how mostly comes from listening to the accompanying CD and the why is mostly missing. The biographical sketches and artistic summaries are interesting but do not merit the subtitle. The CD includes many great actors and is enlightening; I consider it the best part of the book.

[Peach Radvan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mhwerrrrrrr even though it was short, the only reason I forced myself through it, was because I'd already paid for it. I like the parts where they talk a bit about the poets but then it's just poems I've already read 100 times for Year 12 English.

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

I do not read poetry very often and checked it out on a whim. This turned out to be a very good coincidence. It was an eye-opening experience.

[Cheryl · Rating 2 out of 5]

Listening to these poems read in a crisp British accent did make them come alive, but overall I was disappointed. I know that part of the reason I am continually disappointed in brilliant classics resides in the fact that much of their ideas or sentences or innovations are now common and widespread whether in popular culture or books or movies. For example, Auden’s ‘If I could tell you’ is lovely, but I am sure more powerful if you haven’t heard the phrase ‘time will say nothing but I told you so’ in myriad evolutions. Hearing it read out loud by Ralph Fiennes was sublime, however. I do feel the sweet honest pure love that lives in the poem, the wish to be able to tell your love the secrets of the universe, the reasons for evil, and their ultimate fate.

There are no fortunes to be told, although,
Because I love you more than I can say,
If I could tell you, I would let you know.

Auden’s ‘O Tell me the truth about love’ combines humor and seriousness about the perception of what love is, and how it comes, and how it smells, tastes, feels, and made me laugh out loud. There was a subversive cynicism and anger brimming under the humor which will exclude it from any wedding readings, I am sure.

When it comes, will it come without warning
Just as I am picking my nose?
Will it knock on my door in the morning.
Or tread in the bus on my toes?
Will it come like a change in the weather?
Will its greeting be courteous or rough?
Will it alter my life altogether?
O tell me the truth about love.

Emily Dickinson’s poems moved me less than this comment about her: that she realized that ‘her unusual endowment of love was not going to be asked for.' That her thousand poems express such love is a melancholy yet beautiful thought, if you think of all the people in the world, and how they can live anonymously yet have such treasures within, to be discovered. How can you be a pessimist after reading some of her poems, even her difficult or bitter?

Sylvia Plath’s ‘The Applicant’ is timeless, a lament for the way we choose our mates or our unrequited loves choose theirs.

…Open your hand.
Empty? Empty. Here is a hand

To fill it and willing
To bring teacups and roll away headaches
And do whatever you tell it.
Will you marry it?
It is guaranteed

To thumb shut your eyes at the end
And dissolve of sorrow.
We make new stock from the salt…

Now your head, excuse me, is empty.
I have the ticket for that.
Come here, sweetie, out of the closet.
Well what do you think of that?
Naked as paper to start

But in twenty-five years she’ll be silver,
In fifty, gold.
A living doll, everywhere you look.
It can sew, it can cook,
It can talk, talk, talk.

It works, there is nothing wrong with it.
You have a hole, it’s a poultice.
You have an eye, it’s an image.
My boy, it’s your last resort,
Will you marry it, marry it, marry it?

An eternal truth about war from Kipling:

If any question why we died,
Tell them, because our fathers lied.

[Fergie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Poetry has the ability to inspire. I've found poets to grasp what we often can't in life, with their ability to put into words the deeper meanings of things. Often, the words play like music. I suspect it's one reason why I gravitate towards authors who write lyrical prose (to this day, poet & author Emily Bronte, remains one of my favorites).
I've had this book for years. It sat on my bookshelf due to my hestitancy to delve into the worlds and words of poets I tended to shy away from -- Sylvia Plath for one. What eventually drew me in was the presence of other poets whom I enjoyed in the past (despite my lack of knowledge of most of their work) -- such poets as Rudyard Kipling, W.H. Auden, T.S. Eliot, and Emily Dickinson. I was introduced to poets who, despite their looming presence in the world of poetry, I had not previously known -- poets such as Philip Larkin and Marianne Moore.
It's interesting to note the selection of poets and poems Hart chose to dissect. She did a good job showing her wide range of knowledge and subject matter. The book comes with a CD of the poems being read by various actors/artists (Ralph Fiennes & Elizabeth McGovern among them)which is a nice complement to the book.
I admit that I'll always prefer the words of Shakespeare, Barrett Browning, Frost & Yeats to some of the poets chosen here, but it was a nice detour to be able to be exposed to poets whom I had previously not been -- or to whom I had limited exposure.

[Sophie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Poetry isn’t usually my thing, but this got reviewed on Blogging For a Good Book so I thought I'd give it a shot. And it’s nice, a short bio of each poet and a selection of poems from each. I have to read poems out loud to get them in any real sense so it wasn’t a book for the train, but the accompanying CD was fun to use as well, to hear how actors read differently to how I heard. My favourite of the 8 is probably Auden, but I’d not read any Dickinson, that was a nice awakening.

[Amy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I appreciated the layout and accompanying CD. Also, hearing a selection of the poems was helpful, but I was disappointed by how many were not included in the recording. The brief introduction to each of the eight poets and their poems was helpful. Still, it left me wanting a bit more. I'm glad I read the book and certainly feel a familiarity with some poets I'd previously missed.

[Ciara · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's 12 years since I studied some of these "great poems" and poets in school. I'm horrified at how much I've forgotten - all those hours of studying

Ok - have to admit that my initial enthuasiasm wore off and I didn't bother to read all the poems.

[Candice · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you'd like to write more poetry then this can be a good book for you. If you don't write, then you might not appreciate it.

[TheReadingSiren · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a good book to get familiar with some incredible poets and see which of them you would like to explore more deeply into