In the Western Night: Collected Poems, 1965-1990

by Frank Bidart

In the Western Night brings together in one volume all of the poems to date, including many previously unpublished poems, of one of the most exciting and gifted poets writing today.

Genres: Poetry, American, Queer

244 pages, Paperback

First published May 25, 1990

About the author

Frank Bidart is the author of Metaphysical Dog (FSG, 2013), Watching the Spring Festival (FSG, 2008), Star Dust (FSG, 2005), Desire (FSG, 1997), and In the Western Night: Collected Poems 1965-90 (FSG, 1990). He has won many prizes, including the Wallace Stevens Award, the 2007 Bollingen Prize for American Poetry, and the National Book Critics Circle Award. He teaches at Wellesley College and lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Reviews

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

I fear too many poets these days are considered "good" merely because they're different, their aesthetic hard, their poetry disarming. Bidart is all of these things, but deserving of our highest praises because his poetry transcends gimmicks to become a new verse, one that is beautiful and painful. Read his long poem on Ninjinski, or the frightening "Herbert White" to see what I mean. Bidart is one of my favorites. These collection is essential for me, but really only paves the way to the later collections Desire and Star Dust, the latter containing the chapbook "Music Like Dirt," originally published by Sarabande.

[Joanne van der Vlies · Rating 5 out of 5]

• "God said: GOD MADE YOU. GOD DOES NOT CARE IF YOU ARE "GUILTY" OR NOT.
I said: I CARE IF I AM GUILTY! I CARE IF I AM GUILTY!
God was silent. Everything was SILENT. I lay back down in the snow."

 • "I couldn't, couldn't, get it to seem to me that somebody else did it... I tried, and tried, but there was just me there, and her, and the sharp trees saying, 'That's you standing there. You're... just you.' -- Hell came when I saw MYSELF... and couldn't stand what I see..."

• "You are listening to a soul that has always been SICK WITH ENVY."

 • "Our not-love is like a man running down / a mountain, who, if he dares to try to stop,/ falls over--/ my hands wanted to touch your hands / because we had hands."

• "There is no answer to your life. You are insane; or you are evil."

[Charmi · Rating 5 out of 5]

In the Western Night changed the way I thought about writing. The formatting at first was a little hard for me. I've never liked poems whose words are scattered all over, but with Bidart, I get it. It's like learning to listen to a different language, I think. At first you're only able to comprehend the smallest pieces of information. (Why is he distracting me by placing the words there?!) But suddenly the distractions fade away and the voice becomes clear. Aside from that, Bidart is a weighty writer. There is no fluff. What he has to say is personal, but important. Read this book.

[Cassandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't feel anywhere near equipped to review this book. I found the poems in this book energizing, astounding, as well as confounding. Also frightening. There were some images that were like highway accidents that made me think I was sorry so sorry! I looked. But ultimately I was glad I did.

[Kristin Boldon · Rating 3 out of 5]

The collected poems and the interview at the end contain many gems, but overall, I am not the audience for this book of poetry. Bidart's questions are not my own. I found reading the persona poem Ellen West uncomfortable. Is it a deep act of sympathy as claimed on the back cover, or is it a trespass to imagine oneself into a life so different? Yet the Nijinsky poem was amplified by the expansion at the end in the creative process elucidated in the interview and the notes. But I found the final book included, In the First Hour of the Night, to be a slog. I hadn't read Bidart before, and his poems are often luminous and lovely and heartbreaking, but this continues to affirm my "avoid collections" advice to self.

[Margaryta · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's been a while since I've found a poet whose work draws me in and flows in a way that is not quite prose but not only poetic language and worldly musings. Bidart's longer poems especially did it for me, poems like the one about Vaslav Nijinsky which really pushed the envelope of style and genre. An insightful and different collection compared to some of the other poetry I've read, Bidart has won me over into his camp.

[Gus · Rating 5 out of 5]

my favorite poet atm

[Joelyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Our not-love is like a man running down
a mountain, who, if he dares to try to stop,

he falls over-
my hands wanted to touch your hands

because we had hands."

[Aaron Marsh · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the Western Night (the new collection; I'm treating them all as separate publications since that's what they were originally) was my introduction to Bidart via Garth Greenwell, and wow, it's gotten me on a new serious poetry kick especially when I'm writing. I found some of his later verse to be more incredible, but damn, it's been a long time since I encountered a poet who I immediately fell for like this. Why did we not read HIM in school? His pleasures reveal themselves far easier than, say, Ashbery (who is brilliant but difficult), and Bidart is just as innovative and important. Loved it.

(B+/A-)

[Arthur Beer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Includes some of the most significant statements in 20th century American poetry. I was introduced to the writer online through "Confessional", an unflinchingly honest piece about Bidart's relationship with his mother, also serving as a reflection on forgiveness, both of others and of the self. The two most enduring poems are "Ellen West" and "Herbert White", both written from the perspective of a character (one fictional and one not), and both providing insight into the inner lives of deeply troubled and deeply compelling figures. Overall, this is an excellent collection, and a great introduction to one of our most important living writers.

[M. Sarki · Rating 1 out of 5]

Louise Glück recommended Bidart in an essay and I bit. But there is nothing in this collection that resonates with me. The poems are not what I consider good, his form is terrible and the poems actually hurt my eyes, and his subject matter of no interest to me. It is flabbergasting to me that the official literati considers this poet one of the great ones. Very disappointing and unfortunate. And the main reason people don't read much poetry.

[Harry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okay cheating a little bit because I'm actually reading "Half Light" but I want to go easy on myself for the Goodreads reading challenge. Anyway! I felt like some of the poems can be melodramatic but the persona poems were enthralling. Ellen West and Herbert White blew me away. This is my first time reading Bidart; I don't think he'll be a favorite but I'm excited to keep working through his collected poems.

[makenna dykstra · Rating 5 out of 5]

frank bidart revolutionized how i conceive of poetry! reading his long form poems, both the fiction & confessional pieces, was such a delicious and expansive treat. i will be thinking a lot about bidart’s immense capacity for either poetic empathy or imagination (‘ellen west’ wtf), historical transplantation, and attunedness to the insanity of being our humanness (‘vaslav nijinsky’). he capitalized words just for fun or to shout and certainly be heard! it really isn’t so serious!

[Jeremy · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you're a student of philosophy and haven't read the long poem "The First Hour of Night", then rectify that immediately. It is towering. "Herbert White" is also powerfully ahem, unforgettable. Other than that, the others struck me out...

[Benjamin]

theological

[nico · Rating 4 out of 5]

WHAT YOU LOVE IS YOUR FATE.

[Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

ellen west = awesome poem

[Maya · Rating 3 out of 5]

can three stars mean worth reading but sometimes hard to read? i hope so.

[A L]

The interview at the end was really cool.

[Olivia Braley · Rating 5 out of 5]

essential. essential!

[Elaine Retty]

Bidart is an amazing poet with a distinct fascination with the darker side of life