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Rating: 
Summary: Brecht's poetry may be greater than his plays.
Review: Bertolt Brecht has acquired the same status as those other artists whose work is known, but not appreciated. Like Faulkner, Joyce and Proust, he has become transmuted into an adjective; even worse, he has followers who describe themselves as "Brechtian" and who are happy to discuss his theories of drama instead of the dramas themselves.But things get even worse when you get closer to the man himself, for there is a wealth of evidence that "der arme B.B." was, in fact, a conscienceless thief who stole credit from everyone with whom he worked and, in particular, from the women he charmed into professional and emotional liaisons. Add to this his craven attitude towards Stalin, and his theories of epic theater seem to be, at the very least, a gross exercise in self-deception. All very off-putting. But his poetry is a different matter. Brecht approaches the reader without the arrogance of a theorist interested in instructing the audience how to think. He is more candid, both personally and politically, willing to condemn his own weaknesses and, in his later years, those of the movement that he had defended at any cost. And, most importantly, his poetry is fresh, direct, cutting and beautiful, even in translation. This is a volume that those who are interested in writing poetry should have.
Rating:
Summary: poetic scrutiny
Review: Brecht was a poet who subjected his entire artistic practice to political consideration. Political responsibility and historical fact permeate every prosodic decision. Even the contours of his most intimate verse are inscribed by social calamity and consequence. His talent for phrase and metre is intensified by this deliberate wager with and against necessity, not simplified, because aesthetic constraint is mediated and released socially. Brecht's poems are models of materialism and engagement. 500 poems weigh 1.4 lbs. Some of Brecht's writings on poetry are included. The endnotes contain important archival data on the poetry's bewildering provenance and publication history.
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant poems
Review: These poems are brilliant and inspiring because they were written by a socialist. They were written to make you think about the system. Questions by a Worker Who Reads is one of my favourite poems. The freeways, offices, electricity system and everything else in our civilization were not built by politicians or company executives - they were built by workers.
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant poems
Review: These poems are brilliant and inspiring because they were written by a socialist. They were written to make you think about the system. Questions by a Worker Who Reads is one of my favourite poems. The freeways, offices, electricity system and everything else in our civilization were not built by politicians or company executives - they were built by workers.
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