Complete Poems

By Ernest Hemingway

Book Overview

Ernest Hemingway never wished to be widely known as a poet. He concentrated on writing short stories and novels, for which he won the Nobel Prize in 1956. But his poetry deserves close attention, if only because it is so revealing. Through verse he expressed anger and disgust--at Dorothy Parker and Edmund Wilson, among others. He parodied the poems and sensibilities of Rudyard Kipling, Joyce Kilmer, Robert Graves, Robert Louis Stevenson, and Gertrude Stein. He recast parts of poems by the likes of Ezra Pound and T. S. Eliot, giving them his own twist. And he invested these poems with the preoccupations of his novels: sex and desire, battle and aftermath, cats, gin, and bullfights. Nowhere is his delight in drubbing snobs and overrefined writers more apparent.

In this revised edition of the Complete Poems, the editor, Nicholas Gerogiannis, offers here an afterword assessing the influence of the collection, first published in 1979, and an updated bibliography. Readers will be particularly interested in the addition of "Critical Intelligence," a poem written soon after Hemingway's divorce from his first wife in 1927. Also available as a Bison Book: Hemingway's Quarrel with Androgyny by Mark Spilka.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0803272596
• ISBN13: 9780803272590
• Release Date: January 1983
• Publisher: Bison Books
• Length: 171 Pages
• Weight: 0.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.3" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Ernest the Lionized...Evidently he deserves every bit of it

I read this short volume without a clear conception of what Hemingway's poetry would turn out to be. I'd always heard it said that Hemingway's economy in his prose rendered paragraphs into a poetry of their own. But the dynamics of poetry are somewhat different from those of prose: While giving one untrammeled use of the English language (heck, you can even be forgiven a few perversions of grammar), you have to have an ear for meter, let the cadence exalt each verse into a brief apotheosis, where prose writing could take twice as much time to shoot its load. Thankfully, Hemingway was as brilliant (and troubled) a poet as he was a novelist.Hemingway's early poetry is a good indication of what he was soon to create. From the facetious poems about baseball and high school track teams mimicking the verse of his idols,to the smart allecky "Blank Verse" (written as an imposed classroom assignment), we get a good sense of the wry, often witty Hemingway that was to emerge in parts of books such as the Sun Also Rises. Yes, despite the suicide, despite the preoccupation with war and violent sports (bullfight, anyone?) Hemingway had a knack for giving life to people tersely, but with all the effect that a more prolix writer could. (Take the descriptions of Jake drinking wine from a native's winesack on a bus, exultant at the thought of a fishing trip forthcoming.) This, not to say joyful, but at least sometimes happy side to Pappa's poetry is almost completely supplanted by the style that dominated his years in Europe as a WWII correspondent, Cuba, and Idaho. These poems are more technically adroit, sometimes beautiful, but introspective and often a bit more than morose. Ironic: The same man who inveighed against Dorothy Parker for her failed suicide attempts blew his mind out in some corner of Idaho decades after he'd made a name for himself in literature so rockfast that, as long as there are the literate, there will be the Hemingway-lovers.That notwithstanding, Hemingway made a name with Farewell to Arms, The Battler, et al. These poems are brilliant, but, for the two of you who've never read a Hemingway prose volume, remember: His novels are just glorious poems with more action, characters and plot. And are far more reflective of his genius than even these wonderful selections.

good poetry

Originally published as 88 Poems in 1979. This is an updated version with a new afterword. Shows the breadth of work Hemingway did, not only novels, short stories, journalism and literary non-fiction but poetry too. The earliest was when he was 12 yrs old and foreshadows his great range. They span to age 56. Some were for small publications. Many were written to individuals and were never intended for publication. This volume is exquisitely annotated. Some are earthy as you would expect from a man who was involved with war, wingshooting, big-game fishing. Some are delicate and sensitive. The book is worth reading to explore the great range of Hemingway.

good poetry

i never knew hemingway was a poet. but i'm glad he was, since several of these poems are excellent, and most are good (and quite a few bitter). i'm not surprised hemingway's poems are good since it would seem to fit his style of write, every sentence, every word important.

An Excellent Compilation

Author Nicholas Georgiannis has done Hemingway readers -- and poetry readers in general -- a great service by compiling this popular author's poems into an authorized version. Readers will find that Hemingway's poems run the gamut from starkly serious to bitter to silly, often revealing an acrid sense of humor. Those unfamiliar with Hemingway's poetic works will find Georgiannis' Introduction quite helpful in setting the literary background. Furthermore, readers will find the 'Explanatory Notes' and 'Related Readings' at the end of the book are quite helpful in understanding Hemingway's terms and references. My only problem with the book is Georgiannis' decision not to include certain "controversial poems", including 'Hurray for Fonnie Richardson', because it "could hurt a living person." (162) His decision not to hurt anyone is admirable and understandable, but in the end not to be publish those works would be illiberal. So circumstanced, serious students of Hemingway will want the complete man, sins and all. Not to worry: his greatness will go undiminished thanks to the efforts of authors like Nicholas Georgiannis.