Brownstone Eclogues

by Conrad Aiken

Brownstone Eclogues is a poetry collection by Conrad Aiken, published as part of the Indiana University Poetry Series (Volume 23). The book features a series of eclogues, or pastoral poems, that explore themes of nature, love, and the human experience. Aiken's writing is characterized by its lyrical and introspective style, as well as its use of symbolism and metaphor. The poems in Brownstone Eclogues are deeply personal and often deal with themes of loss, grief, and memory. Aiken's work has been praised for its emotional depth and its ability to capture the complexities of the human condition. This collection is a must-read for fans of poetry, and anyone interested in exploring the beauty and complexity of the natural world.This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the old original and may contain some imperfections such as library marks and notations. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions, that are true to their original work.

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1962

About the author

Known American writer Conrad Potter Aiken won a Pulitzer Prize of 1930 for Selected Poems .

Most of work of this short story critic and novelist reflects his intense interest in psychoanalysis and the development of identity. As editor of Selected Poems of Emily Elizabeth Dickinson in 1924, he largely responsibly established her posthumous literary reputation. From the 1920s, Aiken divided his life between England and the United States and played a significant role in introducing American poets to the British audience.

He fathered gifted writers Joan Aiken and Jane Aiken Hodge.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conrad_...

Reviews

[Illiterate · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Eclogues are cityscapes. The other poems are better, especially Granada.

[Keith Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

A mostly forgotten book of poems by a mostly forgotten poet (poet laureate, Pulitzer winner, sic transit gloria mundi) -- or if remembered, remembered only as Eliot's college roommate. I think he had one almost great poem -- "Morning Song of Senlin"-- a kind of minor "Prufrock,"but that poem is not a part of this book.

Here, there are a collection of poems all based on the city. Boston, maybe, but I don't think the poems ever get specific enough to actually say that. All in a similar form, rhymed quatrains, heavily metric. I like the quality of the observation and his effort to capture it all in that rigid form. Now, it is a quiet admiration, not a passion. I don't feel passionate about any of them.

Also troubled a bit by the fact that this book was first published in WWII, yet there is almost no mention of the war at all. That must be intentional, of course, but the fact that Aiken seems to be trying to make his urban eclogues a kind of refuge, is not convincing. Here's one stanza, the only mention of the war, but otherwise typical, in a poem called "Clearing and Colder," a kind of weather report on one morning in the early 1940s:

The iceman's tongs, the milkman's bottles clink--
once more, now, it is later than you think;
the world's at war, the harbor fills with rain,
come all ye faithful, rise, to work again--

But as I typed that, I went back and gave it one more star. Yeah, it might be a star for the museum quality of this, but it is moving. And Aiken's obscurity might be another reason for it. He worked hard, he had his difficulties, he overcame them by working on his poems, and now he has almost disappeared. It's sad, but in a nostalgic way.

[Eddie · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting collection of poems that deal with nature and life.