Romanticism: Poems

by April Bernard

"In Romanticism , the untrammeled Romantic in us struggles for expression in Art. The winner-no question-is the reader."― New Haven Review Romanticism explores and challenges the central ideas of high Romanticism: the tragedy and gallantry of the individual’s life journey, the appeal of revolution and violence, the beckoning forces of Nature, and the estrangement from but constant longing for God. Here is a powerful argument for the primacy of strong emotion.

“Ungeliebt”
      So I offered a bargain:
     All of it, the books, the papers,
     and whatever is still brewing in my teapot head―
     All of this, I said, I will surrender
     if only I may have
     the home that I have seen in his face.
     The answer came at once: No.
     What lies you tell, and call them love.

Genres: Poetry

72 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2009

About the author

April Bernard is the author of three poetry collections and a novel. Her writing has appeared in The New Yorker, the Boston Review, the New York Review of Books, and elsewhere. She lives in Bennington, Vermont.

Reviews

[Tim Mayo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Over the years I have heard April Bernard read a number of these poems and have been waiting patiently for them to come out in a book. Although I haven't finished I am not disappointed.

[Brittany · Rating 4 out of 5]

Favorites: A Chthonic Deity, Waking Alone, Straw Flowers, Concerning Romanticism-War, Sonnenwendenlieder (Solstice Songs)-Ungeliebt

[Vinnie · Rating 2 out of 5]

It’s not as lyrical as I was hoping, but the premise alone will help me return to it at a later date. Some lines hit while the majority didn’t.
Some of the poems even felt empty and used a lot of “I” statements; granted my poetry is like that too but usually when it’s unedited or intended to be spoken. So I wonder if April’s poetry is meant to be spoken aloud.
Even so, I think good poetry is based on its ability to be spoken and read and reading this poetry rarely left me astonished at the writer’s ability to form statements.

[⭐️orion ⭐️ · Rating 3 out of 5]

this book of poetry felt like the most apathetic writing i fear ive ever encountered. the language and ideas had a lot of potential? i think? but it felt quite centered on the idea of what good poetry is rather than sincerity which i just couldn’t quite get behind.

[Diann Blakely]

April Bernard’s first, eponymously titled collection, BLACKBIRD BYE BYE, resonated with notes and meaning that continue to echo in ROMANTICISM, her latest book: “Oh, what hard-luck stories they all hand me,” goes the Mort Dickinson and Ray Henderson standard, “Make my bed and light the light / I’ll arrive late tonight, Blackbird bye bye.” What has changed is the broadened scope of those hard-luck stories, sung with dazzle, fury, and a apocalyptic undertone, accompanied by Bernard’s downright wicked sense of humor. All of the imaginable aspects of ROMANTICISM come under scrutiny here: cosmology, love, and the Mysterious East--in the form of Istanbul--make their appearance in the collection’s first poem, “The Going,” and the book progresses to include lieder and cigarettes. ROMANTICISM’s center remains the self, of course, which is both its strength and its weakness: who needs another poem about a woman banging her head against a steering wheel after love goes wrong? All of us, especially when existing, literally and metaphorically, in what a more recent musician, David Byrne, calls “Life During Wartime.” If ROMANTICISM’s poems are lyrical kissing cousins to what Tony Hoagland has termed “the skittery narrative,” Bernard’s book certainly can't be relegated to what I privately think of as “The New Silliness,” or what has elsewhere been termed “Gurldom." On the other hand, if more female than male poets pursue this particular aspect of what Hoagland describes as a more overarching period style, though perhaps giving the pendulum too wide a berth, is a means of taking the terms of male critical discourse into our hands? Because women still believe in telling all the truth but telling it slant? Read and re-read (i.e., don't skitter through!) ROMANTICISM, which takes no guff and no prisoners, and look for your own, deadly serious, answers there.



(originally published in ANTIOCH REVIEW, Vol. 68 Issue 2)

[Jlawrence · Rating 4 out of 5]

In her fourth book of poetry, April Bernard looks at romanticism, both literary and personal, through several facets, in poems rueful, sharp and elegant. In particular, the multi-poem series "Concerning Romanticism" and "Sonnenwendenlieder (Solistice Songs)" are incredible, and I also loved "The Oft-Wedded Waif" an "homage to Edward Gorey" which easily summoned in my mind the imaginary Gorey illustrations that should accompany it.

[J.M. Hushour · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the greatest living poets, if not the! It's bizarre, yet shouldn't be surprising that talents like this are unknown and publish only a few titles while millions listen to "Kidz Bop" with disgusting glee.

[Pat · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brava!

May these tear-dripped cookies secure her fortune
southward, to the end of
seasons.

[Jan Moens · Rating 4 out of 5]

7/10