Verse

by John Updike

This special Crest ediction of VERSE represents the first appearance of John Updike's collected poetry in a single volume, and contains the complete poems from two volumes originally published as "The Carpentered Hen" and "Telephone Poles." A collection of John Updike poetry, this book is a great companion for the poetry enthusiast. Long before he won the 1964 National Book Award for "The Centaur" and critics were hailing him as "the most gifted writer of his generation" for his earlier novels and short stories, he created these timeless literature included in this book, the "Verse."

Genres: Poetry

175 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1965

About the author

John Hoyer Updike was an American writer. Updike's most famous work is his Rabbit series (Rabbit, Run; Rabbit Redux; Rabbit Is Rich; Rabbit At Rest; and Rabbit Remembered). Rabbit is Rich and Rabbit at Rest both won Pulitzer Prizes for Updike. Describing his subject as "the American small town, Protestant middle class," Updike is well known for his careful craftsmanship and prolific writing, having published 22 novels and more than a dozen short story collections as well as poetry, literary criticism and children's books. Hundreds of his stories, reviews, and poems have appeared in The New Yorker since the 1950s. His works often explore sex, faith, and death, and their inter-relationships.

He died of lung cancer at age 76.

Reviews

[Robin Helweg-Larsen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This paperback is comprised of two earlier volumes, The Carpentered Hen from Harper & Row and Telephone Poles from Knopf. The poems are from the 1950s and early 1960s, and in the words of Phyllis McGinley, "His is what poetry of this sort ought to be: playful, but elegant, sharp-eyed, witty."

Some of it is pure wordplay, as in "Player Piano":
"My stick fingers click with a snicker
And, chuckling, they knuckle the keys;
Light-footed, my steel feelers flicker
And pluck from these keys melodies."

Several of them start with a quote from a newspaper story and then run wild with it, as in "The Descent of Mr. Aldez":
"Mr. Aldez, a cloud physicist, came down last year to study airborne ice crystals.
- Dispatch from Antarctica in the Times
That cloud--ambiguous, not
a horse, or a whale, but what?--
comes down through the crystalline mist.
It is a physicist!"

And some are meditative, as with "B.W.I." (the old British West Indies of the 20th century):
"Under a priceless sun,
Shanties and guava.
Beside an emerald sea,
Lumps of lava.

On the white dirt road,
A blind man tapping.
On dark Edwardian sofas,
White men napping."

A largely enjoyable collection, but not up to the standard of those similar 20th century poets, Phyllis McGinley and Dorothy Parker. But then again, Updike's many American awards (Pulitzer, National Book Award, etc etc) were for his fiction. His poetry can be considered a remarkable bonus.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was not much of a collection, rather a culmination of Updike poetry. I really enjoyed the brevity and wit in most of these poems and I think having them together was both nice and a bit confusing for the more serious reader.

[codenamerogue · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hoping to fashion a mirror, the lover
Doth polish the face of his beloved
Until he fashions a skull.

Some of these were interesting, but the anthology felt pretty disjointed - a collection of poems whose only unifying theme seemed to be “clever wordplay”. But the wordplay wasn’t always especially clever.

[Tamara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jack
A card, a toy, a hoist,
a flag, a stay, a fruit,
a sailor, John, a pot,
a rabbit, knife, and boot;
o'-lantern, in-the-box
or-pulpit, of-all-trades,
anapes, an ass, a straw.
(pg. 85)

[Mario · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a very simple collection of very simple poems, made over a variety of years in various publications. As a consequence, there is very little of a common thread holding it all together except Updike's voice. On an interesting note, since they are in (more or less) chronological order, you get a sense of how his point of view changed over time. The early poems are more humorous, the later ones more introspective. Interesting, but there wasn't much worth reading after the first half.