Product Description

Poetry. A COMMONPLACE BOOK OF PENTASTICHS is a compilation of 249 poems composed in a fine-line stanza form first introduced in THE SECRET ROOM (1997). It is the last book of his own that Laughlin helped to prepare. Musing on the full collection, Hayden Carruth writes in his introduction: "For the reader it is a survey of literature that will never be found in the classroom ... but indubitably will be found in loving longlasting proximity on many a bedside table." James Laughlin founded New Directions in 1936. His own first book, NATURAL THINGS, appeared nine years later. POEMS NEW AND SELECTED, was completed shortly before his death in 1997.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3084851 in Books
• Published on: 1998-10
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 94 pages

Review
The Long Sleep
The Abyss
An Admonition
The Affirmation
After Death
After The Flood
The Afterlife
All Good Things Pass
The Ancient Ocean
The Anglo-saxon Chronicle
An Apology
The Applicant
Arli
Ars Gratia Artis
Ars Poetica
Artaud On Van Gohg
At The Sky's Edge
The Beloved Clown
Betrothal In Assam
The Bharata
The Bird Of Endless Time
The Birth Of An Emperor
The Blindfolded Lovers
The Born Poet
Cabestan
The Cadence Of The World
The Canticle Of The Creatures
The Career Girl
Carriages
The Ceaseless Rain
A Ceremony
Cleomenes On Death
The Coming Of Spring
The Conqueror
Conscience At Yale
Contentment
The Conversation: A Double Pentastich
The Courtship Of Thomas More's Daughters: A Double Pentastich
The Crane
The Dance Of The Skin
De Corpore Hominum
De Perennitate
De Senectute: Mary Baker Eddy
The Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire
Desiderius Erasmus
Desire For The Impossible
Desires And Death
Die Verwirrung
A Difficult Courtship
Difficulty In Henry James
Dinner With Trimalchio
The Discovery
The Double Heads
Dove Sta Memoria
Easter Monday
Elusive Time
The Emperor Makes A Poem
Enjoy The Passing Hour
Epiphany, Anne Carson
An Eskimo Song
The Evening Star
An Evening's Entertainment
Every Day Except Sunday: A Triple Pentastich
The Exiles
An Existence Of Exile
An Exquisite Life
Fair Women
The Fantasist
Fidelio: Ezra Pound
The First Night
The First Time
Flaubert's Earlier Lives
Flaubert's Handbook Of Cliches
Freedom From Rebirth
The French
The Fulfillment
God In Politics
The God Of The Sun And Fire
The Goddess Of Torment
The Good Life
The Good Life
Good Philosophy
The Grasp Of Love
A Great Emperor
The Great Mother
The Growth Of Love
The Hair Shirt
A Happy Ending
The Happy Poets
Hard Times
The Healer
The Healer
A Health Problem
Her Beauty
The Hetaera
His Hand: Two Lines From Lear, Act V
The Honeybee
Human Society
Hunger
I Don't Know Where She Is Wandering Tonight
I Feel Drunk All The Time
I Travel Your Body
The Idols Of Japan
If I Die
The Immeasurable Boundaries
In Hac Spe Vivio
In Hiding
In Love With You
In Memory Of Robert Fitzgerald
In The Auvergne
In Vino Veritas
Inscriptio Fontis
The Invitation To Make Love
The Joy Of Your Charm
Joyce's Words
Kankha-revata
The King-swan
La Poesie
The Labyrinth Of Lines
Ladies Fighting
Language
Le Temps Perdu
The Life Of Chivalry
The Life Of Words
Life Story
Lines
The Linquist
The Living Branch
Living In Three Worlds
Lo Khor (year Wheel)
The Locust
Logodaedaly
The Long Feet People
The Lover's Complaint
A Lover's Oath
The Lovers
A Lullaby
The Magic Flute
The Man Of Tao
Mann Pines To Live
The Manyoshu
The Marvelous Ass
The Merry Life
Messalina
The Mime
A Moment Of Vanity
Mortality
Nero Poisons Britannicus
Not My Loneliness, But Ours
Not Waving But Drowning
The Novelist, Maude Hutchins
Odd Goings-on In Philadelphia
Of Knowledge
Of Zeno The Philosopher
The Old Man's Solution
The Omniscient Autodidact
On Awakening
On Her Prettiness
On Spells
On Wealth
One Lost
The Other Shore Of The Sea
Paolo And Francesca
Penelope To Ulysses
The Persian Woman
The Pissing Of The Toads
Premula's Problem
Procurement
A Proposal
Providence, Fortune & Fate
Public Relations
The Ravaged Virgin
Remembrance Of Her
Renaissance Politics
The Rescue
The Revelation
The Russian Girl
Salad Dressing And An Artichoke
The Scar
The Sculptor
The Seashell
The Secret Line In Loving
The Shadowy Figure
Singing Her Name
Sir Walter Raleigh: A Double Pentastich
Slaves Of The Gods
The Smart Man
The Smile Of The Desert
The Snake Game
The Soldier Poet
A Solution
Song For Silkworms
Spring Comes Again
The Stargazer
A Statement For El Greco And William Carlos Williams
Stories
The Story Of Happiness
Sugaring Time
Swearing
The Sweet Singer
The Talking Truck
Telling Tales
Tempus Loquendi
The Tender Letter
This Foreign Language
Those Wonderful People
Thy Treasure
Time In India
Time Is The Mercy Of Eternity
To Surya
The Toast
Touching
Tout En Ordre
The Tribute
A Trip Through Africa
Tripartite
The Truth
Trying To Please
Two For One
The Two Goddesses: Demeter And Persephone
An Unusual Girl
Vedanta
Vienna
Vigils
The Viper
The Visit Of Eros
A Visit To Harlem
Voltaire And Christianity
Wanderer's Night-song
Want
The Way Of Renunciation
What's New?
Who I Am
A Wintry Christmas
The Wisdom Of The Owl
The Wise Man
Wittgenstein's Ladder
A Woman Of The Sankhini Type
Women
The Writer At Work
The Wrong Button
The Young Deer
The Young Priest
Your Love
A Classic Question
-- Table of Poems from Poem Finder®

Customer Reviews

Pentastichs galore OR Reader's notes in five line form
A commonplace book is a sort of scholar's scrapbook in which to keep quotations etc. that you find useful. As a commonplace book this volume gives wonderful insight into Laughlin's reading/influence -
South Asian holy texts, Japanese novels, classical Latin and Greek texts ... a fascinating and varied collection.

These snapshots (as well as original entries) are in the form of pentastichs - a form Laughlin introduced in his The Secret Room: Poems This is a five line form, short lines, natural voice cadence. One has to wonder if extracting 5 lines from a pre-existing poem legitimately puts it in a new form. I suppose that since Laughlin created the rules ... More interesting to me in terms of form are the poems extracted from prose - a variety of "found poems". Here Lauglin's choice of line breaks and material gives a better sense of how Laughlin envisioned the form. Finally, the original poems show Laughlin, the poet, at work. Here we find several macronic verse (two languages are used), some very witty observations and some sage advice.

Delightful as the book is, recognising how much insight it gives into Laughlin's influences, I still have to wonder. If someone else extracted 5 line segments from others' works and used them as the mainstay of a book of poetry, could they get it published?

A remarkable work by a remarkable man who is an old friend.
I am no reviewer but thank you for asking. My name is Herb Slojewski. I've known Mr. Laughlin's work all my life. This is one of his finest books. Mr. L. was an admirer and supporter of Denise Levertov, who died just a short while ago. Don't miss this one, please. Thanks, Mr. Laughlin! Thank you very much. Herb. Thursday night. Eagle Rock, California 9.9.99--9:09 PM