Chosen Poems: Old and New

by Audre Lorde

Book Overview

Chosen Poems is also, Lorde says, "a linguistic and emotional tour through the conflicts, fears, and hopes of the worlds I have inhabited." Among those worlds are such earlier books as The First Cities, Cables to Rage, From a Land Where Other People Live, New York Head Shop and Museum, and Coal. "Only the worlds of Africa scrutinized in The Black Unicorn, too complex for excerpt, have been excluded." The volume also includes seven new poems. As Adrienne Rich has written, Lorde, "for the complexity of her vision, for her moral courage and the catalytic passion of her language, has already become, for many, an indispensable poet." Chosen Poems will provide for Lorde's readers, both old and new, another proof of this continuing truth.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 039330017X
• ISBN13: 9780393300178
• Release Date: July 1982
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Length: 128 Pages
• Weight: 0.38 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 5.5" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Fragments of a career

I had not thought about Audre Lorde in years when I picked up this book. Chosen Poems selects poems published by Lorde in the period from 1968-1982. As a selection, it is interesting. Reading the transition of 20 years in her work gave me a very concrete sense of what I liked so much about her early work and why I was less interested by the time that her (then) new poems were starting to come out. This selection provides a good picture of Lorde evolving her sense of poetry and its mission. It may be a little irritating to some that the order of the selection is not chronological. Potential readers should note that this collection does not contain any of the work from either the Black Unicorn or the Cancer Journals-- both of which were published during the period represented by the book.

A remarkable potic document

"Undersong" collects Lord's early and later poems. She bravely revealed her feelings in her love poems. The power and the clarity spread out in this book, especially when she wrote about anger, family, politics, and sexuality. The images are unforgettable. This is a book you shouldn't miss.

A remarkable poetic document with power and clarity

Undersong collects a thoroughgoing revision of Lorde's earky poems along with several later poems. Lorde's powerful words and direct expression touch my heart. Especially about love and anger, family, and sexuality, she wrote with truth and faith. The images and feelings are unforgettable. These poems let us think deeply. If you like poem, this is a book you sould not miss it.