What do you think?
Rate this book
The Names of Things: New and Selected Poems
This volume gathers poems from Harrison's three published books, over two decades of poetry, and also includes a section of more recent poems. Born in Cincinnati, Ohio, Jeffrey Harrison's poems have appeared in The New Yorker, The New Republic. Poetry. The Paris Review. The Yale Review. Poets of the New Century, and in many other magazines and anthologies. These well-made poems range from the celebratory to the grief-stricken, chronicling our difficult, recurring passage from innocence to experience. This volume gathers poems from Harrison's three published books, over two decades of poetry, and also includes a section of more recent poems.
- GenresPoetry
120 pages, Paperback
First published December 1, 2006
2 people are currently reading
16 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
November 20, 2008
Jeffrey Harrison, The Names of Things (Waywiser, 2006)
I enjoyed Jeffrey Harrison's The Names of Things, though for some odd reason I'm having a hard time finding a passage the communicates exactly why this is. I think it's more something ineffable that's suffused throughout the book rather than a particular turn of phrase or what have you, something that permeates Harrison's writing. What balances it and stops this from being the best book I've read this year is a somewhat cloying sense of the obvious, as if Harrison simply doesn't trust the reader to get the symbolism, and must therefore pile it on like lead weights.
“My eyes fell to the herringbone brick walk
heaved up by the dark roots
of giant sycamores that lined the street.
There I found a small bird's egg, speckled brown.
We looked up: the white arms of the sycamore
had let it fall during the storm.”
(“The Speckled Egg”)
Alone, this isn't a bad little image. In context of the whole poem, however, it gets kind of painful (and not in a good way). Still, the writing itself is quite good, and sometimes that's enough to make a book enjoyable. ***
I enjoyed Jeffrey Harrison's The Names of Things, though for some odd reason I'm having a hard time finding a passage the communicates exactly why this is. I think it's more something ineffable that's suffused throughout the book rather than a particular turn of phrase or what have you, something that permeates Harrison's writing. What balances it and stops this from being the best book I've read this year is a somewhat cloying sense of the obvious, as if Harrison simply doesn't trust the reader to get the symbolism, and must therefore pile it on like lead weights.
“My eyes fell to the herringbone brick walk
heaved up by the dark roots
of giant sycamores that lined the street.
There I found a small bird's egg, speckled brown.
We looked up: the white arms of the sycamore
had let it fall during the storm.”
(“The Speckled Egg”)
Alone, this isn't a bad little image. In context of the whole poem, however, it gets kind of painful (and not in a good way). Still, the writing itself is quite good, and sometimes that's enough to make a book enjoyable. ***
March 25, 2008
This draws from a number of collections spanning the years. The poems are accesible, well timed and enjoyable to read. Here is a sample of one of his poems called The Fork.
I think because it takes from so many collections, it's hard to pin down or lump all of the poems in a specific group. Definitely a writer worth reading.
I think because it takes from so many collections, it's hard to pin down or lump all of the poems in a specific group. Definitely a writer worth reading.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews