Collected Poems

by Herbert Read

Book by Read, Herbert

Genres: Poetry

286 pages, Hardcover

First published July 1, 1994

About the author

Sir Herbert Edward Read, (December 4, 1893 - June 12, 1968) was an English art historian, poet, literary critic and philosopher, best known for numerous books on art, which included influential volumes on the role of art in education.

Politically, Read considered himself an anarchist, albeit in the English quietist tradition of Edward Carpenter and William Morris. Read was co-founder of the Institute of Contemporary Art & the publisher and editor-in-chief of Jung's collected works in English.

On 11 November 1985, Read was among 16 Great War poets commemorated on a slate stone unveiled in Westminster Abbey's Poet's Corner.

He was the father of the well-known writer Piers Paul Read, the BBC documentary maker John Read, the BBC producer and executive Tom Read, and the art historian Ben Read.

Reviews

[theshadishow · Rating 5 out of 5]

I want to remember the moments where I read this. I was in Shakespeare & Company in Paris. I’d walked the hour-long trek from my hotel. I sat in the library annex upstairs in the beautiful old shop and read. And read and read and read. I found this book in the library upstairs next to the cat’s seat and found it to be so clever and profound that I felt determined to read the whole thing in one sitting, as the books there were not for purchase. In the end, I finished it in under two hours, but by the end my mind was swimming in words that lost sense and meaning, but what beautiful words they were. I didn’t understand all the references but that was ok, I understood the truth from time to time and that was important.

This is one of the best modern poetry books I’ve read, apart from my favourite (The Sun and Her Flowers by Rupi Kaur - not entirely dissimilar from this masterpiece despite being not fully respected for the short ‘Tumblr’ poems she creates). I would thoroughly recommend this collection to anyone who can get their hands on it, as I’m unsure there are many copies in the world. The war poems were, surprisingly, my favourite.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

[Primordial Offering · Rating 5 out of 5]

Easily one if GB's greatest poets. I will read Read forever. The man is regrettably under appreciated in the 21st... sad face

[Jessica · Rating 2 out of 5]

the edition i wanted wasn't available on goodreads
the actual book i read was "Thirty-Five Poems"
it was the same nature, war, and God spiel you see in poetry
i only finished it due to how short and fast it was to read
b o r i n g
80 pgs btw