Rose (New Poets of America)
by Li-Young Lee
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Book Summary Information
Author: Li-Young LeeForeword: Gerald Stern
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1993-03-01
ISBN: 0918526531
Number of pages: 71
Publisher: BOA Editions Ltd.
Book Reviews of Rose (New Poets of America)
Book Review: Father as Muse
Summary: 5 Stars
Very rarely does the inspiration for a book of poems make itself so clearly felt throughout. In this case, the shadow of the poet's father is cast clearly across nearly every page. Part I is the homage, Part II is the eulogy and Part III is the aftermath. Every section is cooled by this shadow of loss which doesn't dissipate, even in poems that at first seem to be about something else. Still, I was taken by how powerful & beautiful & even uplifting this book is. It has a working unity that is often missing in other collections.
The ever-present father figure is one key to this unity but so is the recurrence of certain images; particularly, growing things: persimmons, peaches, ivy, apples, roses, hair. His lover is a vegetable for harvest. Persimmons are a metaphor for knowledge. In "Eating Alone," the poem that closes Part I, Lee writes: "I've pulled the last of the year's young onions./The garden is bare now. The ground is cold..." Which brings us again to the poet's father and pears, but now the fruit is dead. The poet and his father walk "among the windfall pears" and his father bends "to lift and hold to my/eye a rotten pear." The poem concludes with the poet left with "my own loneliness./What more could I, a young man, want." A statement, not a question. These memories are the poet's muse, sad but necessary.
Part II is the title poem, Rose, which works as an extended eulogy. At first, it seems like it will free us from the father figure as we move into Part III, where the survivors, like the poet and his mother, take on more influence. Still, Lee never really shakes his father's influence. "The Weepers," for example, reminds us of the continuing presence of grief.
And yet, despite the melancholy that hangs over the book, it is a wonderful read. I have yet to read a collection of poems where every poem is great but this one works towards it. Maybe because the whole thing feels like a single, extended poem rather than individual one. In any case, I highly recommend this book.
Summary of Rose (New Poets of America)
Table of Contents
I.
Epistle
The Gift
Persimmons
The Weight Of Sweetness
From Blossoms
Dreaming Of Hair
Early In The Morning
Water
Falling: The Code
Nocturne
My Indigo
Irises
Eating Alone
II.
Always A Rose
III.
Eating Together
I Ask My Mother To Sing
Ash, Snow, Or Moonlight
The Life
The Weepers
Braiding
Rain Diary
My Sleeping Loved Ones
Mnemonic
Between Seasons
Visions And Interpretations
I.
Epistle
The Gift
Persimmons
The Weight Of Sweetness
From Blossoms
Dreaming Of Hair
Early In The Morning
Water
Falling: The Code
Nocturne
My Indigo
Irises
Eating Alone
II.
Always A Rose
III.
Eating Together
I Ask My Mother To Sing
Ash, Snow, Or Moonlight
The Life
The Weepers
Braiding
Rain Diary
My Sleeping Loved Ones
Mnemonic
Between Seasons
Visions And Interpretations
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