From Publishers Weekly
Everyone has a birthday which they meet with varying levels of joy and ambivalence each year. Birthday Poems, edited by Jason Shinder (Tales from the Couch: Writers on Therapy), underscores this fact with a century's worth of poems by a variety of prominent U.S. writers (from e.e. cummings to John Hollander to June Jordan to Denis Cooper), who celebrate, lament and mull over the meaning of a birthday. A subject index will help readers find poems specific to certain family members or to the age being celebrated. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
Book Description
Birthday Poems presents an array of more than 100 friendly, wise, affectionate voices including William Carlos Williams, Kay Boyle, Allen Ginsberg, and June Jordan on the subject of birthdays. The birth of a son or daughter, the passionate address to another on the occasion of their birth, memories of birthdays past, birthday parties and rituals, the blessings of being alive and the knowledge of time passing, literary tributes from one writer to another, are some of the catalysts for many of the poems. The ultimate birthday gift, Birthday Poems will include a subject index making it easy to find favorite poems for husbands, wives, sons, daughters, friends or the year being celebrated. It will also include a preface on the history of birthdays and a postscript about the most popular song in the world, Happy Birthday To You, the everywhere-known lyrics written by two women in Lexington, Kentucky in the late nineteenth century.
Birthday Poems: A Celebration FROM THE PUBLISHER
Birthday Poems presents an array of more than 100 friendly, wise, affectionate voices including William Carlos Williams, Kay Boyle, Allen Ginsberg, and June Jordan on the subject of birthdays. The birth of a son or daughter, the passionate address to another on the occasion of their birth, memories of birthdays past, birthday parties and rituals, the blessings of being alive and the knowledge of time passing, literary tributes from one writer to another, are some of the catalysts for many of the poems. The ultimate birthday gift, Birthday Poems will include a subject index making it easy to find favorite poems for husbands, wives, sons, daughters, friends or the year being celebrated. It will also include a preface on the history of birthdays and a postscript about the most popular song in the world, ﾽHappy Birthday To You,ﾽ the everywhere-known lyrics written by two women in Lexington, Kentucky in the late nineteenth century.
FROM THE CRITICS
Publishers Weekly
Everyone has a birthday which they meet with varying levels of joy and ambivalence each year. Birthday Poems, edited by Jason Shinder (Tales from the Couch: Writers on Therapy), underscores this fact with a century's worth of poems by a variety of prominent U.S. writers (from e.e. cummings to John Hollander to June Jordan to Denis Cooper), who celebrate, lament and mull over the meaning of a birthday. A subject index will help readers find poems specific to certain family members or to the age being celebrated. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.
KLIATT
What a collection of poetry! Each of the poems has something, at times remotely, to do with birthdays. Included is a wide range of poets and perspectives. Some poems are long, some complex, but many are accessible and easy to understand. The collection includes a short history of the song "Happy Birthday to You," and other song lyrics, by Patti Smith, The Beatles, Bob Dylan and others. A wide selection of poets, from well known (Hughes, Plath and Cummings) to less well known (Galway Kinnell, David Lehman and Maud Meehan), is represented. While not a collection I would normally consider a required purchase, I think this title would be a great way to get students interested in new poets and poems. Category: Poetry. KLIATT Codes: JSA—Recommended for junior and senior high school students, advanced students, and adults. 2002, Avalon, Thunder's Mouth, dist. by Publishers Group West, 228p. index., $15.95. Ages 13 to adult. Reviewer: Sarah Applegate; Libn., River Ridge H.S., Lacey, WA SOURCE: KLIATT, March 2002 (Vol. 36, No. 2)
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