The Collected Poems of Tennessee Williams

by Tennessee Williams, David E. Roessel (Editor), Nicholas Rand Moschovakis (Editor)

In this edition of The Collected Poems of Tennessee Williams, all of the playwright/poet's previously collected and uncollected published poems, including poems from the plays, have been assembled, accompanied by explanatory notes and selected variants.

Genres: Poetry, Classics

304 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 2002

About the author

Thomas Lanier Williams III, better known by the nickname Tennessee Williams, was a major American playwright of the twentieth century who received many of the top theatrical awards for his work. He moved to New Orleans in 1939 and changed his name to "Tennessee," the state of his father's birth.

Raised in St. Louis, Missouri, after years of obscurity, at age 33 he became famous with the success of The Glass Menagerie (1944) in New York City. This play closely reflected his own unhappy family background. It was the first of a string of successes, including A Streetcar Named Desire (1947), Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1955), Sweet Bird of Youth (1959), and The Night of the Iguana (1961). With his later work, he attempted a new style that did not appeal to audiences. His drama A Streetcar Named Desire is often numbered on short lists of the finest American plays of the 20th century, alongside Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey into Night and Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman.

Much of Williams' most acclaimed work has been adapted for the cinema. He also wrote short stories, poetry, essays and a volume of memoirs. In 1979, four years before his death, Williams was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame.

From Wikipedia

Reviews

[Trixy Lemell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh, my goodness...Poetry I can love!

I read a lot of poetry and I feel all the time that it is hit or miss. Some of it is so hard to wrap your head around. Williams poetry is for the people. I love it. It is like that album where it isn't just one or two hits you can listen to, but every song has you saying, "This is going to be the next one they put on the radio. The next #1."

Emily, watch out...I might have a new love.

[Peycho Kanev · Rating 3 out of 5]

THE DIVING BELL

I want to go under the sea in a diving-bell
and return to the surface with ominous wonders to tell.
I want to be able to say:
“The base is unstable, it’s probably unable
to weather much weather,
being all hung together by a couple of blond hairs caught
in a fine-toothed comb.”
I want to be able to say through a P.A. system,
authority giving a sonorous tone to the vowels,
“I’m speaking from Neptune’s bowels.
The sea’s floor is nacreous, filmy
with milk in the wind, the light of an overcast morning.”
I want to give warning:
“The pediment of our land is a lady’s comb,
the basement is moored to the dome
by a pair of blond hairs caught in a delicate
tortoise-shell comb.”
I think it is safer to roam
than to stay in a mortgaged home
And so —
I want to go under the sea in a bubble of glass
containing a sofa upholstered in green corduroy
and a girl for practical purposes and a boy
well-versed in the classics.
I want to be first to go down there where action is slow
but thought is surprisingly quick.
It’s only a dare-devil’s trick,
the length of a burning wick
between tu-whit and tu-who!
Oh, it’s pretty and blue
but not at all to be trusted. No matter how deep you go
there’s not very much below
the deceptive shimmer and glow
which is all for show
of sunken galleons encrusted with barnacles and doubloons,
an undersea tango palace with instant come and go moons . . .

[Rural Sellers · Rating 3 out of 5]

For some reason I was surprised that Tennessee Williams wrote poetry. The poetry is actually good (no surprise there!) but somehow doesn't grab me the was Donald Hall or Mary Oliver or Auden do.

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

The amazing ability of Tennessee Williams to turn a phrase prevails though his poetry dating from high school into his 60s. An interesting study.

[j.e.rodriguez · Rating 4 out of 5]

"So little is so much and is finally all."

[Hannah]

We Have Not Long to Love is so beautiful <33333333 Go d I love it "The tender things are those
we fold away/Coarse fabrics are the ones for common wear."

[Makayla · Rating 3 out of 5]

10 thousand stars for "We Have Not Long to Love" 3 stars for everything else. More of a reference source than a read-through book

[Gia Pilgrim Charles · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a big fan of Williams' plays, I was curious to pick up this book of his poetry. Overall, I wasn't extremely impressed but a few stuck with me quite a bit such as The Wine Drinkers and What's Next on The Agenda, Mr. Williams? and The Little Town. Being fascinated with Williams' life it was interesting to see more writing on his drinking habits, the psych ward, family issues, problems with insomnia, and his relationships with men and women.

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

Historically interesting to fans of Williams and GLBT historians, these oh-so-frank poems lend insight into the man and the social mores he dissected in his works. Editorially, the section of verse from film and plays seems redundant to anyone other than an OCD completist. The cover art by Brian Rea and the accompanying CD are nice additions to this volume.

[Lauren Bingham · Rating 5 out of 5]

ADORE IT.

[Hannah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tactile poetry.

[Rocco Thompson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really not the greatest poems ever written, but so much fun if you're a fan of Tennessee! Plus, my edition came with a CD of the author HIMSELF reading a few of his poems which is so very cool!

[Mary Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some of these were nice. I was in a rush to finish this, though, not the best way to digest poetry. Then again, it's sort of a mish-mosh of his material.

[huda · Rating 4 out of 5]

we have not long to love being published posthumously is so :((3