Selected Poems: 1950-2012

by Adrienne Rich, Albert Gelpi (Editor), Barbara Charlesworth Gelpi (Editor), Brett C. Millier (Editor)

Overview

Sixty years of poems from pioneering writer, activist, and intellectual Adrienne Rich—“the Blake of American letters” (Nadine Gordimer).

Adrienne Rich was the singular voice of her generation, bringing discussions of gender, race, and class to the forefront of poetical discourse. This generous selection from all nineteen of Rich’s published poetry volumes encompasses her best-known work—the clear-sighted and passionate feminist poems of the 1970s, including “Diving into the Wreck,” “Planetarium,” and “The Phenomenology of Anger”—and offers the full range of her evolution as a poet. From poems leading up to her feminist breakthrough through bold later work such as “North American Time” and “Calle Visión,” Selected Poems celebrates Rich’s prophetic vision as well as the inventiveness that shaped her enduring art.

Editorial Reviews

The New York Times Book Review - Craig Morgan Teicher

I don't mean to claim some instant, magic woke-ness upon reading [Essential Essays and Selected Poems: 1950-2012]. But Rich offers me a powerful and necessary reminder of the continuous self-reflection required to fight ignorance—one's own and others'…These two volumes will be the gateway to Rich's pivotal body of work for the coming generation of readers. They will find a piercingly clear and authoritative voice in both poetry and prose, able to assert itself on seemingly any topic, which will serve as a model for inaugurating and explaining future paradigm shifts. They will find what were once new ideas that are now commonplace, in part thanks to Rich. They will find, in a little more than 800 pages, a summation of one of the great careers in American letters, a profound and beautiful call to think, and feel, and fight.

San Francisco Chronicle

Rich is one of the greatest American poets of the past half century.

W. S. Merwin

Rich’s poems, volume after volume, have been the makings of one of the authentic, unpredictable, urgent, essential voices of our time.

San Francisco Chronicle

Rich is one of the greatest American poets of the past half century.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780393355116
Publisher:	Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc.
Publication date:	09/11/2018
Pages:	496
Sales rank:	211,345
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.30(h) x 1.10(d)

Related Subjects

• American poetry->20th century
• American poetry->21st century
• American poetry->Women authors->20th century
• American poetry->Women authors->21st century