French love poems are about the kind of love that puzzle, delight and afflict us throughout our lives. On the way there's the first yes from lips we love (Varlaine), a sky full of stars reflected fatally in Cleopatra's eyes (Heredia), lying awake waiting for your lover (Valery), and the defeted toys of dead children (Gautier).
The "things" in the title of Alistair Elliot's collection include the writer's back lane, a flag with medieval Syrian embroidery which the Queen of the Fairies gave to "the" MacLeod, a radio which has provided news for nearly six decades, and flowers.
It is quite bizarre that a culture so besotted with food and all things relating to the stomach and the senses should have left but one cookery book. The curious, therefore, must resort to other sources of inspiration for information about the Romans at table. Not least among these sources is the poetry of men such as Horace, Martial, Juvenal, ...
Alistair Elliot has claimed that anything he puts into a poem, he'll have in the after-life. Earlier books provide food and drink: he's now packing up whole countries, species, friends. Some poems here explain what it's like having a shower with women aged 20 when you're not, how horses express admiration for each other, what people do when world ...
We guarantee every item's condition, as described on Alibris. If you are not satisfied that an item is as described, return your purchase for a refund.
