FOUR SEASONS -- FIVE SENSES

by Elinor -- Ed. Parker ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 20, 1974

It's sad to see so much great poetry -- from Shelley's ""Ode to the West Wind"" and Shakespeare's sonnet ""That time of year thou may'st in me behold"" to ""Fern Hill"" and the ""Wild Swans at Coole"" -- in such an anemic presentation. A number of the selections are excerpts -- an acceptable way to approach longer works such as Wordsworth's ""The Prelude"" or ""Snowbound,"" but questionable in the case of Marvell's metaphysical ""The Garden"" and inexplicable in the case of Keats' ""To a Nightingale"" which deserves to be read in its entirety. Parker also surrounds the better verse with less than scintillating company. Emily Dickinson, represented seven times (more than any other poet) and not by her best work at that, chirps along with ""Dear March, come in!"" and ""The Sky is Low, the Clouds are Mean."" And poems like William Cullen Bryant's ""To the Fringed Gentian"" and Ralph Waldo Emerson's ""The Humble Bee"" effectively remind us of why so many highschool students consider studying poetry an ordeal. Traditional and tradition-bound.

Pub Date: March 20, 1974

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: 132

Publisher: Scribners

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1974

Categories: NONFICTION