Reviews

A Book of Luminous Things: An International Anthology of Poetry by Czesław Miłosz

rsmry's review

first read for an english class. upon rereading it feels about the same. still some really strong poems i enjoy and some i don't enjoy so much. the sections lost their meaning because they were so vague though, except woman's skin which still annoys me lol. favorite sections were epiphany, nature, and history. those actually made sense as categories. 

dilan11's review

3.0

I don't really like the little introductions to each poem. It is something I thought I would like - a little interpretation, another writer's opinion - but I find the notes so far inferior to the poems themselves that they wind up detracting from the poem. I do like the range of poets though, and am glad that this anthology includes poems from before the 20th century.
There are poets that repeat (some several times) and I find that unnecessary because there are so many good poets that could have been included.
"Wild Geese" by Mary Oliver brought tears to my eyes. It was just what I needed to understand my connection to the world.

nhusain14's review

5.0

Perhaps…for the loneliness of an author, Shu Ting

Perhaps these thoughts of ours
will never find an audience
Perhaps the mistaken road
will end in a mistake
Perhaps the lamps we light one at a time
will be blown out, one at a time
Perhaps the candles of our lives will gutter out
without lighting a fire to warm us.

Perhaps when all the tears have been shed
the earth will be more fertile
Perhaps when we sing praises to the sun
the sun will praise us in return
Perhaps these heavy burdens
will strengthen our philosophy
Perhaps when we weep for those in misery
we must be silent about miseries of our own

Perhaps
Because of our irresistible sense of mission
We have no choice

jenlouden's review

4.0

This is a wide collection of poets bringing shape to the inner life, the spiritual yearnings, the glimpses of something beyond ourselves.

fiatal's review

4.0

Lots of Californian and Polish poets - unsurprising, I suppose, since he was a Polish poet who spent 30+ years in California. He gives a short introduction to each poem, which I too often found either inane or lacking context for his claims (like that a poem was clearly about cavepeople when I thought it could easily be any people around a campfire) but were occasionally illuminating. Overall, a great collection of poetry, especially if you like Milosz and want to see what poetry he admired.

urban_mermaid's review

3.0

Overall, this was an okay book of poetry. I liked that is was grouped into sections although his section on the body was something I found lacking. As with anthologies, I like to note my favorite of the poems for my future self.

The Kingfisher - Mary Oliver
A Story - Jane Hirschfield
Study of Two Pears - Wallace Stevens
Vacation - William Stafford
A Journey - Edward Field
After Midnight - Louis Simpson
The Zen of Housework - Al Zolynas
A Sketch for a Modern Love Poem - Tadeusz Rozewicz
The Armenian Language is the Home of the Armenian - Moushegh Ishka



Also, pretty much anything by Tu Fu, Kenneth Rexroth, Rumi, and Ann Swir in the book!

missmarauder2's review

5.0

In any anthology of poetry, some poetry is a hit and some is a miss. This book had a wide variety of hits. I adore poetry, in all it's forms, and even the old English poems that involved dense language and intricate rhyming schemes were still interesting and easy enough to understand. I love that Milosz specifically wanted to choose poems that were easy to read and easy to understand.

This book was light and refreshing and represents everything I adore about poetry.