A Stone, a Leaf, a Door: Poems

by Thomas Wolfe

Book by Wolfe, Thomas

Genres: Poetry, Fiction, Literary Fiction

166 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1945

About the author

People best know American writer Thomas Clayton Wolfe for his autobiographical novels, including Look Homeward, Angel (1929) and the posthumously published You Can't Go Home Again (1940).

Wolfe wrote four lengthy novels and many short stories, dramatic works and novellas. He mixed highly original, poetic, rhapsodic, and impressionistic prose with autobiographical writing. Wolfe wrote and published books that vividly reflect on American culture and the mores, filtered through his sensitive, sophisticated and hyper-analytical perspective. People widely knew him during his own lifetime.

Wolfe inspired the works of many other authors, including Betty Smith with A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Robert Morgan with Gap Creek; Pat Conroy, author of Prince of Tides, said, "My writing career began the instant I finished Look Homeward, Angel." Jack Kerouac idolized Wolfe. Wolfe influenced Ray Bradbury, who included Wolfe as a character in his books.

(from Wikipedia)

Reviews

[Jonfaith · Rating 5 out of 5]

With dead eyes and with flesh of tallow gray,
And of how even in Brooklyn
They lean upon the sills of evening
In that sad hushed light.

It feels vulgar to post a review on the day a war begins. It is anything but vulgar to read such poetry on a dark day. Truly transportive on a morning when you wish something else was happening.

[C · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the first book of poetry that I purchased with my own money that wasn't intended for a class.

1992.

I imagine that either makes me look very young or very old depending on who you may be as you read this.

I bought it the first day of my college orientation. My roommate said he figured I was "some kind of fag" since I had a book of poetry in my room. After telling the story to my girlfriend at the time, she and several of her female friends came to the dorm room I was staying in. In their pajamas, they coyly asked if I would come and sleep with them. I grinned as I watched the face of my roommate drop. I'd like to say that it was a victory for poetry. But in the end, it was probably just a victory for myself.

Either way, it's a moment I still look back on and smile over.

[Taylor Church · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thomas Clayton Wolfe, you have done it again. Well you did it decades ago, but I am just now getting around to appreciating your craft. I usually am not a huge fan of verse. I myself enjoy writing poetry, but I find most of it outside my realm of interest. But having fallen in love with Wolfe's first novel, I had to read every word he published. This collection of poems is so beautiful and painful with its multifarious themes and leitmotifs. A girl of great intrigue and beauty decided to read this collection with me at the same time. I am excited to compare our favorite passages and to see which words were doubly underlined and twice loved.

[Joe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Magic

And who shall say —
Whatever disenchantment follows —
That we ever forget magic,
Or that we can ever betray,
On this leaden earth,
The apple-tree, the singing,
And the gold?


—Thomas Wolfe

[Eugenea Pollock · Rating 4 out of 5]

Louis Untermeyer: “It has often been suggested that Thomas Wolfe was a poet who elected to write in prose.” I agree that this is true. For me, the only jarring note in these 70 poems is the occasional use of a 1940s-era racial epithet. But otherwise, so much is lyrical, beautiful.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although Wolfe is known as a narrative poet, he wrote in prose - lots of it - most of his books are commitments of 700 or so pages for the reader. This book is a collection of passages and fragments carved out from Wolfe's prose and re-assembled as verse. It's an interesting concept and a succinct sort of introduction to his style - lofty and gritty - but if the author's intent and purpose is of any consequence, then it can't really be considered an original or authentic work. Wolfe may be a lyrical novelist, but since he elected to write in prose, why alter it? On the other hand, it's an enjoyable read, full of Wolfe's staggering and insightful expression of mid-century American life and his terrific and vibrant phrasing.

And no leaf hangs for me in the forest.
I shall lift no stone upon the hills.
I shall find no door in any city...

[Cliff · Rating 5 out of 5]

Contemporary poetry wouldn't allow this depth of feeling. There are no doubt numerous critiques by acclaimed poets of today that label Wolfe as unsophisticated or immature. But I never feel anything when I read most of what they write. They can not fathom how one could both see "dark time feeding like a vulture on our entrails" and be found "burning in the night." Wolfe doesn't sell out, at least not in these poems. He writes like a true romantic but with the style and subject matter of his world. This was an experience that was enjoyable in a way only great poetry can be.

[Talie · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are some real gems in here. Great for reading aloud. Enjoy

[tiffany nicole · Rating 4 out of 5]

"you are a poet and the world is yours."

[Talbot Hook · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very strange premise for a book of poetry, given that it was arranged by another person. Yet Wolfe's language is lyrical, stunning, and meaningful. Not every poem has the same sparkle, of course, but most of them do. They are deeply American (and also a bit racist, in places, given where and when he was writing) while still partaking of the universal. And, like most good poets, Wolfe expresses a prodigious love of nature.

Why is April always maligned?

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

My favorites were Play Us a Tune, Pity, and The Blazing Certitude

[lily · Rating 1 out of 5]

racist. also poems are too long , hard to keep my attention