The Sorrow Psalms.

The Sorrow Psalms

Lynn Strongin, editor

University of Iowa Press 

100 Kuhl House, Iowa City, IA 52242

087745986X $24.95 www.uiowa.edu

Compiled and edited by Lynn Strongin, The Sorrow Psalms: A Book Of Twentieth-Century Elegy is an outstanding , 204 page collection of original poetry written by sixty six individual poets to honor the dead. The collection embraces the gamut of emotions and reactions that pertain to grief and the grieving process. In her preface, Strongin discusses the evolution of the pastoral elegy, and answers a pertinent question: "How does elegy comfort? Although it cannot bring back the loved one, it can evoke him or her. By the filmic technique of capturing the beloved, one fixes the image: one exalts even as one grieves. While we cannot look into the eyes of the beloved ever again, we can evoke his or her presence so strongly that we bring a third dimension to the elegy--as Scott Cairns has observed--'creating a new experience, a present presence, which is where our consolation lies.' (pp.xi-xii)." She goes on to find many contrasts between twentieth century and those of the Classic or Romantic eras. She explains that the anthology is divided into five sections. The first, titled "Nothing Left to Forgive," includes elegies by W. B. Yeats and John Berryman and foreshadows all twentieth century elegy. the Second, titled" By the Gas Fire Kneeling," is filled with poems of memories of the loss of close family, dear friends, and lovers. It contains poems by Denise Levertov, James Dickey, and Jane Valentine, among others. The third section is titled "While the Real One Dies;" it deals specifically with poems that mourn the death of a child. Poems by Robert Peters and Stan Rice are to be found here, along with others by Elizabeth Bishop, Robert Lietz, and more. This is described as the core section of The Sorrow Psalms, and uses child-centered imagery and child speech patterns to highlight the subject of the elegy. The fourth section, "The Open Eyes of the Dead," is filled with poems about those who died violently, all too common in contemporary history, both in war and peace. Carl Sandburg speaks authoritatively here, along with Allen Tate, Charles Fishman, W. S. Merwin, and William Carlos Williams. The last section , "White: Echo" deals with the implications of death, including the contemplation of an afterlife. Emily Dickinson is not included here, but her influence is widely felt. She is described as "the transitional bridge from pastoral elegy to the bleak modern lament focused upon one stage of grief: despair, colorless and white (p. xv)." Poems by Billy Collins, Mark Conway, Anne Sexton, May Swenson, and Charles Wright are included here with others. Beginning as a song of grief, the elegy of the twentieth century still ends with an ascent into light, and a sense of radiant joy. The Sorrow Psalms become the sorrow dances.