Berrigan, Ted

The Collected Poems of Ted Berrigan

ISBN: 9780520251557
Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2007. First Edition. “Comfortably intimate–classically adroit in its formal wit and invention—altogether unique yet in no way excluding, this meticulously edited edition of a master poet’s collected works gives us the defining bridge from the ‘New American Poetry’ of the ‘50s to that poetry now contemporary on both coasts and in all conditions. No one ever recognized the people with whom he lived more particularly than did Ted Berrigan, and no one ever brought them home to a reader with such unaggressive and persistent power. This is a great, great book for all seasons of the mind and heart.” (Robert Creely, from back cover) Ted Berrigan (1934–1983) was an American poet, the likes of which are seldom seen. Berrigan considered himself a “late Beat,” and, like Allen Ginsberg (1926–1997) and Jack Kerouac (1922–1969), he traced his lineage as a writer to the American Expressionist tradition. The first writer to excite him was Thomas Wolfe (1900–1938), who had also been important to Kerouac. Berrigan had very high regard as well for Kerouac, whom he interviewed for the Paris Review, and for another writer at the core of the Expressionist tradition, William Saroyan (1908–1981). However, it is often thought that Berrigan’s biggest inspiration, and literary mentor, is Frank O’Hara (1926–1966). O’Hara’s phrasing emerges in early Berrigan works as well, although—as in “Personal Poem #9”—it is sometimes parodied, a fact that critics often overlook. There are characteristic O’Hara phrasings in many Berrigan poems, particularly in the early work, but the sensibility they express is unmistakably Berrigan’s. Constantly absorbing, utilizing, and morphing his influences, Berrigan was a gestalt comprised of shades of O’Hara, Ginsberg, Kerouac, Walt Whitman (1819–1892), and Ron Padgett (b. 1942). While their styles were wholly different, Padgett was Berrigans closest poetic associate and collaborator. Padgett’s work is self-conscious, and the tone is sophisticated and urbane; he has been particularly successful in creating a characteristically French wit in his poems and so becoming, it has been said, America’s greatest French poet. Berrigan, on the other hand, projects a sensibility that is confiding, sad, graceful, affectionate, and indistinguishable from the sensibility he projected in person. While never pretentious, his poetry can also be cerebral and erudite; he was enormously well read, much better read, perhaps, than most poets of his generation. Offered today is the 2007 The Collected Poems of Ted Berrigan. Comprised of both published and unpublished works, compiled and edited by Berrigan’s wife Alice Notley (b. 1945), and their two sons Anselm and Edmund Berrigan, The Complete Poems is the first and most authoritative collection of the poetic works of the great literary legend, Ted Berrigan. From the collection of scholar, poet and our dear friend Robin Eichele (b. 1941), noted Mimeograph Revolutionary & co-founder (with the late, great John Sinclair [1941-2024]) of the Detroit Artists’ Workshop. Softcover. First softcover edition, "First paperback printing 2007," as stated at copyright page, first printing as indicated by number sequence thereon ending with "2" as first hardcover edition was considered first printing. Book is in very fine condition with only minor wear to fine edges, light smudging to front and back covers, and a slight ink mark to bottom-fine-edges of pages. Very Fine. [Item #7251]

Price: $75.00