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Against Love Poetry: Poems
by Eavan Boland
from W.W. Norton & Co.
Customer Reviews:
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Avg. Customer Rating: 3.0 / 5.0 
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Language that Startles 
I always find it challenging to rate a book of poetry, since a single great poem can make it worth the purchase. That said, I discovered more than a few wonderful poems in this collection. Certain language will stay with me for a long time, like this from the poem "Quarantine," about a couple who died walking north...
"But her feet were held against his breastbone.
The last heat of his flesh was his last gift to her."
Then there is this from "The First Year"...
"the steep inclines
more info
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Against Love Poetry 
//This is a unique book of poems by
a woman "married thirty years"
who, if you'll pardon the expression,
tells it like it is. It's no surprise that
this book, in particular, has
has raised the hackles of those
who prefer women to write
angst-inspired confessionals as opposed to
what we have here -- the truth. The language, as always, is beautiful. Two of the poems, "Quarantine" and "Thanked Be
Fortune" are fantastic. Read this book first, and judge for... more info
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a thoroughly enjoyable book
Against Love is an extremely interesting work. As the author states, it is a polemic (confrontational argument), not an essay or balanced account of the subject. It is purposefully designed to push the reader into a confrontatory state regarding the subject of love, especially in the context of marriage/coupling in current U.S. society.
I found Kipnis writing wonderful, witty, intense, and refreshing. She is the first author I have read in a long time that sent me packing off to the dictionary more than... more info
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A sad decline 
I was a great admirer of Ms. Boland's early poems, though what struck me as bold and innovative and fresh in that work has become (or so it seems to me) a sort of tired rhetorical posturing, and a sort of frumpy stylistic manner. Her early authority seems feigned now, and I personally find it hard to account for the flatness and airiness of the poems themselves. I should add that I say all this with a sinking heart, as I had very high hopes for her career.
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