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b_p's review
3.0
If you are deciding whether or not to spend your time reading this slim yet stimulating volume of poetry, read the following excerpt in order to gauge your interest:
"scarlet beauty in our world dead fish adrift
all things full of gods
pressed down and bleeding"
If these three lines have intrigued you in any way, onward. If they did nothing for you, then it is best to veer away from Beckett's poetry.
I am slowly but surely dipping my toes into the work of Beckett. I started with Krapp's Last Tape which was less intimidating than I expected. The same can be said for this selection of Beckett's poetry. The poems that I enjoyed most upon my first read-through:
"Whoroscope"
"The Vulture"
"Echo's Bones"
"Cascando"
"4." (Part of Quatre Poèmes)
Based on what I have read so far, Beckett is less challenging from a "Oh God, I need to know a ton of historical background and critical lenses before I can even start to crack this open for meaning" standpoint than he is from a "I need to focus on the innovative and insane ways that he is playing with language" standpoint. These are not poems for the casual reader who wants to read poetry with a (relatively) straightforward meaning than they are for the reader who A) writes and/or B) is a literature nerd. Regardless, I will leave you with what may be the most beautiful poem I have read by Beckett:
4.
I would like my love to die
and the rain to be falling on the graveyard
and on me walking the streets
mourning the first and last to love me
"scarlet beauty in our world dead fish adrift
all things full of gods
pressed down and bleeding"
If these three lines have intrigued you in any way, onward. If they did nothing for you, then it is best to veer away from Beckett's poetry.
I am slowly but surely dipping my toes into the work of Beckett. I started with Krapp's Last Tape which was less intimidating than I expected. The same can be said for this selection of Beckett's poetry. The poems that I enjoyed most upon my first read-through:
"Whoroscope"
"The Vulture"
"Echo's Bones"
"Cascando"
"4." (Part of Quatre Poèmes)
Based on what I have read so far, Beckett is less challenging from a "Oh God, I need to know a ton of historical background and critical lenses before I can even start to crack this open for meaning" standpoint than he is from a "I need to focus on the innovative and insane ways that he is playing with language" standpoint. These are not poems for the casual reader who wants to read poetry with a (relatively) straightforward meaning than they are for the reader who A) writes and/or B) is a literature nerd. Regardless, I will leave you with what may be the most beautiful poem I have read by Beckett:
4.
I would like my love to die
and the rain to be falling on the graveyard
and on me walking the streets
mourning the first and last to love me
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