Break Blow Burn

I finally finished Break, Blow, Burn after almost a year of picking away at it. It's that kind of book though: 43 poems followed by a few pages of explication by the inimitable Camille Paglia. I'm a fan and I love it when she's on TV (not enough).

Since I know little about poetry I can trust her judgment that these are 43 of the world's best poems. She starts with Shakespeare and ends with Joni Mitchell so that's good enough for me.

Due to my ignorance, and the fact I prefer my poetry embedded in the pop songs of folks like Bob Dylan, Neil Young and yes, Joni, I've always thought poetry on the page was either boring, pretentious or inscrutable. Therefore, this is the perfect book for a beginner. In fact, Paglia appeals here to "serious readers outside academe who were craving an introduction to literary and cultural history and its enduring artistic principles [by writing these] concise commentaries on poetry that illuminate the text but also give pleasure in themselves as pieces of writing."

This book succeeds. Here's a sample of her writing from the essay on "Kubla Khan" by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. The same could be said of Camille Paglia insofar as she creates her own artful writing while analyzing the art of others:

"Talented artists have the uncanny power to materialize their thoughts and fantasies, temporarily invading our minds and becalming our bodies. But great artists radically transform us, permanently repopulating our consciousness with their own obsessions."