Poems and Songs
by Leonard Cohen
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A collection of song lyrics and poems from the long and influential career of one of the most acclaimed and admired poet-songwriters in the world.Tags
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A very strong selection of Leonard Cohen's poetry, and certainly the best-presented. Whilst Stranger Music is the most comprehensive anthology I have yet read, I thought its presentation was a tad impersonal. But this Everyman's Library Pocket Poets collection has a delicacy and a majesty to its production that complements the sensuality of Cohen's work. However, unlike Stranger Music, this book does not make any effort to tell the reader when a certain poem or song was written (though, to my mind, it seemed roughly chronological). That said, there are no obvious omissions with regards to the material; this is a great book whether for new fans looking for an introduction to his work or for existing fans looking to revisit some of his show more best stuff. show less
Like many, as a fan of Cohen's music, I knew that he had origins as a poet, but didn't know the poetry at all. This book incorporates both, but doesn't distinguish between them, so at points I was left to guesswork when I encountered something which was unknown to me as a song. At his best Cohen can erupt into superb eloquence, yet it must be said that his two obsessions, the divine and carnality, are not hot topics for me.
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Favorite Recent Poetry: 1980-2022
178 works; 71 members
Author Information
191+ Works 10,732 Members
Leonard Norman Cohen was born in Montreal, Canada on September 21, 1934. He received a degree in English from McGill University and studied literature at Columbia University for a year. His first collection of poetry, Let Us Compare Mythologies, was published in 1956. His other collections of poetry include The Spice-Box of Earth, Flowers for show more Hitler, Death of a Lady's Man, Poems and Songs, and Book of Longing. He also wrote two novels entitled The Favorite Game and Beautiful Losers. He was a musician and songwriter for almost five decades. He recorded 14 studio albums including Songs of Leonard Cohen, Songs from a Room, Songs of Love and Hate, Ten New Songs, Dear Heather, Popular Problems, and You Want It Darker. He wrote numerous songs including Hallelujah, Suzanne, Dress Rehearsal Rag, Bird on a Wire, The Story of Isaac, Famous Blue Raincoat, Dance Me to the End of Love, First We Take Manhattan, Everybody Knows, and Tower of Song. In 2008, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In 2010, he received a lifetime achievement award from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. He died on November 7, 2016 at the age of 82. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- Poems and Songs
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Statistics
- Members
- 321
- Popularity
- 98,500
- Reviews
- 2
- Rating
- (4.16)
- Languages
- English, French
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 5
- ASINs
- 3
