So Forth: Poems
Joseph Brodsky
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    for readers. Joseph Brodsky's last volume of poems in English, So Forth, represents eight years of maste…
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November 28, 2018

This collection is witty and clever. There’s no discerning theme, which is not necessarily a bad thing, but given that there’s also no clear tone, it seems like a bit of a mish mash. There’s no doubt that Brodsky is a wordsmith, and that some of these poems were originally written by his adopted language - English - and others translated by him from Russian. Most poems try too hard to combine wittiness, cleverness, and sound craftsmanship, unfortunately at the expense of emotional resonance. I connected with only a handful of poems as a result. The rest were entertaining or uninteresting.

On a side note: if some of the lines that snuck through are any indication of his personality, then I’m afraid he might be among that great collection of misogynist writers.

February 12, 2017

"Great!" cries the Emperor. "What one conquers

is up to the scholar's quills.

And let the Treasury boys go bonkers

trying to pay the bills."

My reading of this late Brodsky collection was deeply influenced by yesterday's experience with the biography. Medical issues hover just off the page. Overpopulation and climate change abound. Seeking not only solace but perspective, Brodsky heralds objects at the expense of memory. The latter being but ubiquitous cigarette smoke.

The citation above highlights the eternal recurrence. My wife's brother alerted me this morning that he's found a parcel of goats for me to shepherd should we find ourselves compelled to relocate overseas.

December 2, 2023

Brodsky’s enervating style spoils his attempts to be playful and colloquial. Top tip: Fin de Siecle.

February 11, 2018

"… quando sussulti al pensiero della tua pochezza,

ricorda: lo spazio, al quale, sembra, niente è necessario,

ha un bisogno estremo, tuttavia,

di uno sguardo da fuori, di un criterio del vuoto.

E solo tu puoi servire a questo scopo."

(Insegnamento, p. 41)

July 29, 2007

I've heard he doesn't translate well, but I still love this collection.

June 23, 2022

Joseph Brodsky’s So Forth is an anthology of Maps and narrative of guests at derision. The Noble Prize Winner releases yet another book of poems and it’s vernacular and garishness (albeit in respect to being a work containing fiery prose and diction it never fails to deliver on command- as though benefic portents were afoot- sink into this and other Brodsky collections, one must read the Nobel Prize Winners of history to become a learned person

May 7, 2018

Wonderful distractions, thoughtful, light, easy read.

April 1, 2022

Poesia Russa para celebrar a cultura universal. Nascido em Leningrado, mas expulso da URSS.

June 20, 2015

The name Joseph Brodsky has always sounded so stodgy and professorial that I've avoided him for years. But finding this posthumous collection in an abandoned cardboard box in Chelsea, I thought I'd give his poems a chance. After all, what's in a name? Here, the longest poems ("Vertumnus," especially) deliver the least; while those which rhyme in an almost childlike fashion ("A Song,""Reveille," "Love Song," "A Tale") defy their simple titles and delight with playful complexity.

Book found in box on 16th Street between Sixth and Seventh Avenues.

December 18, 2007

In general I like Russian poetry. He's a Russian poet.

June 13, 2012

Didn't get a whole lot out of this (Kind of meloncolie) but the guy who suggested it likes it. To each his own.

June 8, 2012

The poem Brodsky wrote for his daughter is, perhaps, one of the most beautiful things I've ever read, partially because of the context, but also, because this man could write his ass off.