The Happy Birthday of Death
by Gregory Corso
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Description
It is true that he has been one of the inner circle of the 'Beats' from the first, but many admirers of his poetry feel that it belongs quite as much to other and older traditions in world literature. One of these is the revival of pure poetry whenever an "original"--be it Rimbaud or Whitman--has broken with current verse conventions to give free rein to the magic of language. Another is that ancient pre-occupation of poets--the sense of the immediacy of death. Like Villon or Dylan Thomas, show more Corso lives close to the mystery of death. It is, perhaps, his central theme, on which variations ranging from the terrible to the comic are sounded. But Corso is seldom macabre. A bursting vitality always carries him back to the sensations of the living, though always it is the reality behind the obvious which has caught his eye. "How I love to probe life," Corso has written, "That's what poetry is to me, a wondrous prober... It's not the metre or measure of a line, a breath; not 'law' music; but the assembly of great eye sounds placed into an inspired measured idea." show lessTags
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Member Reviews
Reading this after many years since the 1960s,
I remember that Gregory Corse was sitting under a bridge for inspiration.
Not sure what attracted me to the poems back then, but now they all feel majorly depressing,
though BOMB is fairly incredible!
I remember that Gregory Corse was sitting under a bridge for inspiration.
Not sure what attracted me to the poems back then, but now they all feel majorly depressing,
though BOMB is fairly incredible!
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Author Information
53+ Works 1,473 Members
In 1957, Allen Ginsberg wrote of Corso, "He's probably the greatest poet in America, and he's starving in Europe." Corso's themes are death and beauty, always in American terms. Virtually an orphan, Corso was born on Bleecker Street in New York's Greenwich Village. He spent his childhood and youth in and out of foster homes. During his numerous show more prison terms, he was introduced to literature by a fellow convict. On his release, he met Ginsberg, who immediately recognized his talent and helped him. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Series
Belongs to Publisher Series
Visor de Poesía (80)
Common Knowledge
- Original title
- The Happy birthday of death
- Original publication date
- 1960
Classifications
Statistics
- Members
- 239
- Popularity
- 134,825
- Reviews
- 1
- Rating
- (3.79)
- Languages
- English, Spanish
- Media
- Paper
- ISBNs
- 3
- ASINs
- 1
