Mention About Books Staying Alive: Real Poems for Unreal Times

Title	:	Staying Alive: Real Poems for Unreal Times
Author	:	Neil Astley
Book Format	:	Paperback
Book Edition	:	Deluxe Edition
Pages	:	Pages: 496 pages
Published	:	April 2nd 2003 by Miramax Books (first published June 27th 2002)
Categories	:	Poetry. Anthologies

Staying Alive: Real Poems for Unreal Times Paperback | Pages: 496 pages

Commentary Supposing Books Staying Alive: Real Poems for Unreal Times

Assembling a diverse mix of contemporary poets-Mary Oliver, W.H. Auden, Maya Angelou, Billy Collins, Louise Gluck, Gwendolyn MacEwen, Rita Dove, and hundreds more-Staying Alive is a unique anthology that illuminates the vital force of our humanity, the passion of our aspirations, the power of our spirituality. From the enigma of death to the sweetness of friendship, these poems speak to life's mysteries and consolations and help us navigate the most trying times in recent memory. Staying Alive is already an astonishing best-seller in the United Kingdom, where it has gained a wide-ranging audience. This new edition, specially revised for its American readership, reconnects acionados and newcomers alike to the force of poetry, helping us stay alive to the world and stay true to ourselves.

Details Books Toward Staying Alive: Real Poems for Unreal Times

Original Title:	Staying Alive: Real Poems for Unreal Times
ISBN:	1401359264 (ISBN13: 9781401359263)
Edition Language:	English

Rating About Books Staying Alive: Real Poems for Unreal Times

Ratings: 4.36 From 1575 Users | 124 Reviews

Assessment About Books Staying Alive: Real Poems for Unreal Times

'Poetry cannot be defined, only experienced.'-Christopher LoguePoetry is a miracle of the ineffable painted in words. 'Everybody wants to be able to paraphrase the content of the poem,' wrote Former US Poet Laureate Charles Simic (The Monster Loves His Labyrinth), 'except the poet.' Poetry is like lowest common denominator when dividing reality, an abstract approach at the mechanisms of existence. To explain it is to defeat the purpose, to take pliers to the wings of a butterfly and reduce

I've read every poem in this anthology and enjoyed all of them. It's difficult to pick a favourite when there are so many poems but if I have to it is All Souls' by Dana Gioia, from chapter ten which was also my favourite chapter. The poem meditates on the idea of souls being stuck on earth because there is no heaven or hell; it's a meditation of afterlife on earth. Other favourite I have listed from each chapter below. Chapter 1. Happiness by Raymond CarverHomage to my Hips by Lucille Clifton

Love it. Yeats's "When You Are Old" feels so fresh facing Zbigniew Herbert's "Conch". Poetry is timeless, borderless. It's refreshing to pick up an anthology that crosses boundaries and eras easily. Let Osip Mandelstam sit on the page across from Sylvia Plath, let Robert Graves share a page with Ingeborg Bachmann. It's refreshing. And there are loads of great poems here, it's a useful resource.Here's the prose poem "Conch" by Zbigniew Herbert:In front of the mirror in my parents' bedroom lay a

For a few years I'd been keeping a notebook full of my favorite poems, where I'd carefully copy the poem in so that I'd have it with all my other poems I could describe as old and best friends. I can't remember how I came across this book in the first place--I may have been drawn in simply by the cover, which is an intensely charged photo of a girl's face--but I knew it was for me the moment I opened the first page and found Mary Oliver's poem "Wild Geese" at the very beginning, before the table

I've never really been into poetry. I picked this book out on a whim; it was sitting on a shelf of discarded books, at my local library. The poems in this book sucker punched me, with full force in the gut and mind with prose plucked out of the depths of raw human emotions.

I have had this book for about seven years now. I don't think that I will ever 'finish' it. It is a constant companion, as are many of the poetry books on my shelves. This one has a definate melancholic tilt throughout but don't let that put you off. The poems in the pages of this anthology are a celebration, a dance, a whirl through the landscapes of life, and poetry having no real bounds goes beyond too. I love this book. It is a real treasure and resource for me and my life. Bloodaxe books

My favorite anthology of contemporary poems.