The Shout: Selected Poems

There are a lot of great poets I don't enjoy (Dunne), some unfavored ones I do (Jeffers), some I'm a little embarrassed of enjoying (Collins) and so on. I orderd this book based on selections in the modern British poetry anthology and the fact I'm very impressed with his translations from middle and early modern English. I like the accessability of his verse, his experimentaion with traditional style and rhyme and the personal and sometimes lyrical qualities he displays. In size and committment it's very doable and I would recommend any poetry lover to give it a whirl. I can't give it a 5 because then what would we say about Emily Dickenson and Robert Frost?

Overpriced. Very small. Not a lot of pages

The Shout, selected poems by Simon Armitage gives a good idea of the poetry he has written all over the years.

All too often these days poetry is something like "I am/but I am not/and there is a puzzle/piece/on the wall" and you feel like it should mean something but you're not sure what.Simon Armitage is different. The imagery is clear and the language he uses is crystalline in its sharpness and exactitude. The verses are structured with a seamless fluidity so that they flow effortlessly, and yet you are aware of how tightly regimented the words are. This is the work of a master poet, and it shows. All of his poems, no matter how short or long, require several readings: the first time, you are only aware of the precision in the cadence and the evocative images he uses; the second, you start to understand the story he's telling (all of his poems are, essentially, stories); third, you are trying to come to terms with the whys and the hows; fourth, you start to grasp the symbolism and the meaning.And the strange thing--it never gets old. You read the poems once, twice, ten, fifty times, and each time there is something to marvel at. It's like an old Beatels' LP--you know all the songs on there by heart, you know every note, and yet when you listen to it yet again, there's always something more.

The Shout is a compilation of poems from past works by Armitage. The very readable poems in the book, both traditional and experimental, encompass a world of subject matter. I don't usually read much poetry, preferring fiction, but after stumbling on this collection I might start.The poems freshly explore both the banal and the transcendent with wry humor, authenticity, lyricism and originality.Darkly humorous "Gooseberry Season" tells the story of an annoyed family calmly murdering an unwelcome houseguest. The elegant, melancholic "To His Lost Lover" is a man's reflection on the experiences he never had in a relationship, regretting "how they never slept like buried cutlery," and he "never drank intoxicating liquors from her navel/ Or christened the Pole Star in her name." "You're Beautiful" is one of my favorites, which you can find online with some searching. Order this book!

Simon Armitage, The Shout (Harcourt, 2005)According to Charles Simic's introduction to this volume, Simon Armitage is one of Britain's most popular modern poets. This collection, while a bit hefty for a single-author outing, makes it easy to see why; like Billy Collins, Armitage is a master at balancing the quotidian with the poetic, coming up with poems that are without a doubt poetry, yet still easily readable and, oftentimes, a good deal of fun (though with a dark tang):"No gearing up or getting to speed, just an instant rage,the rush of metal lashing out at air, connected to the main.The chainsaw with its perfect disregard, its moodto tangle with cloth, or jewellry, or hair.The chainsaw with its bloody desire, its sweet toothfor the flesh of the face and the bones underneath,its grand plan to kick back against nail or knotand rear up into the brain.I let it flare, lifted it into the sunand felt the hundred beats per second drumming in its heart,and felt the drive-wheel gargle in its throat."("Chainsaw versus the Pampas Grass")Good stuff both for the seasoned poetry reader and the novice who got soured on it in school. I do wish they'd chosen a slightly slimmer volume, though; Armitage's stuff can definitely give meaning to the phrase "too much of a good thing." Peruse at leisure. ***