The Handbook of Heartbreak: 101 Poems of Lost Love and Sorrow

by Robert Pinsky (Compiler)

Collected by U.S. Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky, this unique volume brings together works from poets jilted in the sixteenth century to those struggling with heartache today -- including William Shakespeare, Sylvia Plath, Wallace Stevens, Frank O'Hara, Langston Hughes, Emily Dickinson, and Louise Gluck. The Handbook of Heartbreak is a must for anyone who has ever loved -- and lost.

Genres: Poetry

158 pages, Hardcover

First published October 7, 1998

About the author

Robert Pinsky is an American poet, essayist, literary critic, and translator. From 1997 to 2000, he served as Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress. Pinsky is the author of nineteen books, most of which are collections of his own poetry. His published work also includes critically acclaimed translations, including The Inferno of Dante Alighieri and The Separate Notebooks by Czesław Miłosz. He teaches at Boston University and is the poetry editor at Slate.
wikipedia

Reviews

[Dorian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fantastic poetry. The last one was a beautiful one to end on, gave me goosebumps! 💗🌿
You’ll enjoy this if you like poetry!!

[Sarah MacBride-Karver · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are some really nice poems in here. I really enjoyed "Body" and "In Houston." Quick read if you just read straight through, but I recommend taking time to read a couple poems a day.

[Nuri · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

Someone in my circle discussed the need for break up poems anthology, and this was listed. But this collection explores various forms of heartbreak.

Western Wind
by Anonymous

Western wind, when wilt thou blow?
The small rain down can rain.
Christ, that my love were in my arms,
And I in my bed again

My Grandmother's Love Letters
by Hart Crane

There are no stars tonight
But those of memory.
Yet how much room for memory there is
In the loose girdle of soft rain.

There is even room enough
For the letters of my mother’s mother,
Elizabeth,
That have been pressed so long
Into a corner of the roof
That they are brown and soft,
And liable to melt as snow.

Over the greatness of such space
Steps must be gentle.
It is all hung by an invisible white hair.
It trembles as birch limbs webbing the air.

And I ask myself:

"Are your fingers long enough to play
Old keys that are but echoes:
Is the silence strong enough
To carry back the music to its source
And back to you again
As though to her?"

Yet I would lead my grandmother by the hand
Through much of what she would not understand;
And so I stumble. And the rain continues on the roof
With such a sound of gently pitying laughter.

Teachers
by W.S. Merwin

Pain is in this dark room like many speakers
of a costly set though mute
as here the needle and the turning

the night lengthens it is winter
a new year

what I live for I can seldom believe in
who I love I cannot go to
what I hope is always divided

but I say to myself you are not a child now
if the night is long remember your unimportance
sleep

then toward morning I dream of the first words
of books of voyages
sure tellings that did not start by justifying

yet at one time it seems
had taught me

b o d y
James Merill

Look closely at the letters. Can you see,
entering (stage right), then floating full,
then heading off—so soon—
how like a little kohl-rimmed moon
o plots her course from b to d

—as y, unanswered, knocks at the stage door?
Looked at too long, words fail,
phase out. Ask, now that body shines
no longer, by what light you learn these lines
and what the b and d stood for.

Other absolute marvels from the book were —

1. Definition of Love
Andrew Marvell

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem...

2. Mock Orange by Louis Glück

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem...

3. Dream Song 14 by John Berryman
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem...

4. What He Thought by Heather McHugh, from Hinge & Sign : Poems

[Molly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay, I'm just going to say this: I thought that this would be one of those collections good to read when you want something to lift you up out of your heartbreak, or to somehow comfort you in times of sorrow. FALSE! It turned out to be a collection of absolutely wonderful poems but ones that nonetheless made me outrageously depressed and cry whilst listening to Taylor Swift's "Clean" on repeat for about an hour. So, you know- good stuff; but maybe not poems to read if you are possibly not 100% in a healthy place. (Editor's note: Don't worry- nothing serious! Just holiday- and ex-husband-is-being-a-jerk blues)

[LemontreeLime · Rating 3 out of 5]

Completely forgot I read this! This was good. The computer geek character in the japanese movie "Train Man" said a line which best sums this one up. "This is the most refreshing depression I've ever had!!" Worth searching for when you need a good wallowing!

[Jared Della Rocca · Rating 3 out of 5]

A gorgeous book of collected poems on heartbreak. Poets from all time periods represented giving you verse in a variety of styles and yet all on one topic. Guaranteed to find at least one in there that will speak to you specifically.

[Steve · Rating 5 out of 5]

The perfect book to read while listening to Frank Sinatra and nursing a broken heart. Life is not easy and looking for love doesn't make it better. Read, ruminate, and don't call her. You will be better for it.

[BillyBlog · Rating 4 out of 5]

A perfect book for Valentine's Day. One of the more beautifully-crafted poetry anthologies.

[Ann Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this anthology over and over.
The poems break my heart and heal it again. A treasure.

[SmarterLilac · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my all-time favorite poetry collections. I was fortunate enough to meet Robert Pinsky and have him autograph this for me a couple of years ago.