Printer Friendly
The Free Library
14,587,994 articles and books
Member login
User name  
Password 
 
Join us Forgot password?

Voice of the Poet, American Wits: Ogden Nash, Dorothy Parker, Phyllis McGinley; & Robert Frost: The Voice of the Poet.


VOICE OF THE POET, AMERICAN WITS: Ogden Nash Noun 1. Ogden Nash - United States writer noted for his droll epigrams (1902-1971)
Nash
, Dorothy Parker Noun 1. Dorothy Parker - United States writer noted for her sharp wit (1893-1967)
Dorothy Rothschild Parker, Parker
, Phyllis McGinley. 2003. Read by the authors. Abridged. 1 cd. 1 hour. Random House Audio. 0-553-75663-X. $19.95. Plastic; content notes, 64-page book. SA*

ROBERT FROST: THE VOICE OF THE POET, 2003. Read by the author. 1 cd. 1 hour. Random House Audio. 0-553-75661-3. $19.95. Plastic; content notes, 64-page book. SA*

Aristotle once wrote, "Wit is educated insolence in·so·lence  
n.
1. The quality or condition of being insolent.

2. An instance of insolent behavior, treatment, or speech.

Noun 1.
." Odgen Nash, Dorothy Parker, and Phyllis McGinley, the three poets featured on American Wits, fit the definition, though some are more insolent in·so·lent  
adj.
1. Presumptuous and insulting in manner or speech; arrogant.

2. Audaciously rude or disrespectful; impertinent.
 than others. Parker wrote satire, but with a poignant twist. A member of the legendary Algonquin Round Table The Algonquin Round Table was a celebrated group of New York City writers, critics, actors and wits. Gathering initially as part of a practical joke, members of "The Vicious Circle," as they dubbed themselves, gathered for lunch each day at the Algonquin Hotel from 1919 until , Parker pilloried women, the battle of the sexes, and mortality ("Gas smells awful-you might as well live."). Nash soon gave up "serious" verse to write humor. As the London Times wrote of him, "Mr. Nash is a most ingenious and amusing critic of frailty and absurdity." McGinley wrote of suburbia, with "its own landscape of shuttered homes, clipped lawns, up-scale village amenities... and also a way of life." Women are her specialty. Parker reads 13 of her works, Nash 24, and McGinley 13.

Robert Frost writes deceptively simple verse that seems to be about pastures, clouds, snow, and stone walls. Dig deeper and you find a philosopher, a poet of "loss and limitation and loneliness, of desolation and extinction." Here he reads 36 of his best-known poems, including "The Death of the Hired Man," "Birches," "Mending Wall "Mending Wall" is a poem, published in 1914, by Robert Frost (1874–1963). The poem appeared in Frost's second collection of poetry, North of Boston. Summary ," and "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" was written in 1922 by Robert Frost, and was published in 1923 in his New Hampshire volume. Imagery and personification are prominent in the work. ." His flat country voice captures in his poems the rhythms and tones of real speech. As he once wrote, "There are only three things, after all, that a poem must reach: the eye, the ear, and what we may call the heart of the mind. It is the most important of all to reach the heart of the reader."

The Voice of the Poet is an excellent series. Each CD comes with a booklet containing a brief biography of the poet, the text of each poem, and a list of other boors by and about the poet. Too bad we don't have Donne or Shakespeare. A must for every library. Janet Julian, Grafton, MA
COPYRIGHT 2003 Kliatt
No portion of this article can be reproduced without the express written permission from the copyright holder.
Copyright 2003, Gale Group. All rights reserved. Gale Group is a Thomson Corporation Company.

 Reader Opinion

Title:

Comment:



 

Article Details
Printer friendly Cite/link Email Feedback
Author:Julian, Janet
Publication:Kliatt
Article Type:Audiobook Review
Date:Sep 1, 2003
Words:368
Previous Article:True Believers: the tragic inner life of sports fans.(Audiobook Review)(Brief Article)
Next Article:What If? The world's foremost military historians imagine what might have been.(Audiobook Review)(Young Adult Review)(Brief Article)



Related Articles
Literary Influence and African American Writers: Collected Essays.
Frost in a Clear Lens.(Review)
POET GEORGE STARBUCK, 65.(NEWS)
A golden voice goes silent: Lynne Thigpen, the award-winning actress who died this past spring, was the hardest working narrator in audiobooks....
A child's garden of verses: four titles that introduce young readers to poetry's vitality.(Children's Review)(Book Review)
The Breath of Parted Lips: Voices From the Robert Frost Place, Volume II.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
Coghill, Sheila & Tammaro, Thom, eds. Visiting Frost : Poems Inspired by the Life and Work of Robert Frost.(Brief Article)(Young Adult Review)(Book...
William Carlos Williams: The Voice of the Poet.(E.e. Cummings: Voice Of The Poet, Langston Hughes: The Voice of the Poet, Randall Jarrell: The Voice...

Terms of use | Copyright © 2009 Farlex, Inc. | Feedback | For webmasters | Submit articles