A Far Rockaway of the Heart: Poems (New Directions Paperbook)
by Lawrence Ferlinghetti
On This Page
Description
A sequel to A Coney Island of the Mind (written forty years after the original in what the author has called "a poetry seizure" that lasted more than a year), A Far Rockaway of the Heart is a sequence of one hundred and one related poems with recurrent themes. The author also thinks of it as a kind of caustic critique of modern poetry, including confrontations with or parodies of major figures in the literary avant-garde before the arrival of the Beat generation, notably Pound and Eliot, show more Beckett and Joyce. show lessTags
Recommendations
Member Reviews
This collection proves that Ferlinghetti, even in his later years, still held the majesty of language and verse in check. There are some great conceptualizations here, and some of his prose poems reach the sublime in their magnificence and beauty. I was swayed and moved by some of the poems and I felt that there is a lot to offer here to those interested in poetry and Ferlinghetti. He is so careful with his usage of imagery, diction, and dichotomy here that it is obvious why he is a master at his craft.
4 stars, nicely done Ferlinghetti!
4 stars, nicely done Ferlinghetti!
Published in 1997, this book is considered a sequel to his 1958 book [A Coney Island of the Mind]. The poems here are about childhood and family. Ferlinghetti's father died before he was born and his mother entered an asylum shortly after that. Ferlinghetti was raised by his Aunt Emily, by strangers and sometimes in an orphanage. The poems in this book were often sad, which I usually like, but.. this was my least favorite of the three Ferlinghetti books that I read.
Ratings
Members
- Recently Added By
Author Information
147+ Works 6,645 Members
Lawrence Ferlinghetti was born Lawrence Monsanto Ferling in Yonkers, New York on March 24, 1919. He received a B. A. from the University of North Carolina, a M. A. from Columbia University, and a Ph.D from the Sorbonne. During World War II, he served in the U. S. Naval Reserve and was sent to Nagasaki shortly after it was bombed. In 1953, he and show more Peter Martin began to publish City Lights magazine. They also opened the City Lights Books Shop in San Francisco to help support the magazine. In 1955, they launched City Light Publishing, which became known as the heart of the "Beat" movement. Ferlinghetti is the author of more than thirty books of poetry including Time of Useful Consciousness, Poetry as Insurgent Art, How to Paint Sunlight, A Far Rockaway of the Heart, Over All the Obscene Boundaries: European Poems and Transitions, Who Are We Now?, The Secret Meaning of Things, and A Coney Island of the Mind. He is also the author of more than eight plays and of the novels Love in the Days of Rage and Her. He has translated the work of a number of poets including Nicanor Parra, Jacques Prevert, and Pier Paolo Pasolini. He received the lifetime achievement award from the National Book Critics Circle in 2000, the Frost Medal in 2003, and the Literarian Award in 2005, presented for "outstanding service to the American literary community." He was named the first poet laureate of San Francisco in 1998. He writes a weekly column for the San Francisco Chronicle. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Awards and Honors
Common Knowledge
- Original publication date
- 1998
- Blurbers
- Kyper, Peter
Classifications
Statistics
- Members
- 166
- Popularity
- 196,596
- Reviews
- 2
- Rating
- (3.56)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper
- ISBNs
- 2
