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humbird's review against another edition
4.0
Beautiful, insightful, and often poignant look at every-day things and events. Jane beautifully pulls out the significance and beauty of small things, pointing our attention to notice and appreciate the details. But such a heavy weight of sadness throughout, which makes sense considering her struggle with depression, which I didn't know about when I started the book. I kept looking for something uplifting and encouraging, and found little. For several of the poems I would love to know the backstory--of whom she was speaking and what happened. Who was ill, who died, what was her role and relationship in the person's life.
I would recommend reading the Afterword first, as it tells of the creation of this particular volume of poems. Understanding the backdrop on which it was assembled sooner in my reading (I think I was 2/3 - 3/4 of the way through when I read the Afterword) would have enhanced my reading of the poems themselves.
I would recommend reading the Afterword first, as it tells of the creation of this particular volume of poems. Understanding the backdrop on which it was assembled sooner in my reading (I think I was 2/3 - 3/4 of the way through when I read the Afterword) would have enhanced my reading of the poems themselves.
madsmikks's review against another edition
5.0
it was very cool to see how her work evolved over her life. this collection has so many poems related to grief and sadness and dying that it’s hard to feel anything but bittersweet and longing, but it was incredibly moving anyways.
sloatsj's review
5.0
I love Kenyon. She's fabulous at what she does, although she sometimes seems unable to break out of "what she does" and occassionally succumbs to lesser instincts (as in "The Shirt"). Still, her poetry is poignant and full of wonderful imagery. Five stars for the good stuff.
forgereads17's review
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
sad
medium-paced
4.25
inthecommonhours's review
3.0
A library check-out for N'l Poetry Month. I've had this title on my Amazon wishlist for a while, forgetting now where I picked up the title (perhaps Kenison's blog?). I enjoyed these poems, especially the ones depicting depression in a way I had never heard before---as well as the later ones on loving someone whose health is on the line. Hall's afterword is compelling.
nightwater32's review
2.0
I read this after reading Donald Hall's book "Without" about his life with Jane Kenyon and her illness, having only read her earliest book of poems beforehand. As such, I felt a bit like I had an insight to her when reading her poems that one doesn't always have. In the end, though, few poems resonated with me. Perhaps because I didn't tend to like her style, her line breaks, and some of the depression that bled out onto the page of too many poems. I like wistfulness, poignancy, not depression, which perhaps I felt more keenly having read this after Hall's book. Others may love her poems, which I can completely understand; she does capture moments well. Some images of small-town life, or just life in general, are wonderful. For me, though, in general, it just wasn't my type of poetry.
phoebe_114's review
4.0
i loved the deep meaning behind these poems, they were all so beautifully written