Telephone Ringing in the Labyrinth: Poems 2004-2006

By Adrienne Rich

Book Overview

A new volume from Adrienne Rich, recipient of the National Book Foundation's 2006 Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters. Telephone Ringing in the Labyrinth is one of Adrienne Rich's most unpredictable and evocative collections. In the folk/blues tradition behind "Rhyme," in the incantatory pattern of "Behind the Motel," in the voices from past and present in "Letters Censored, Shredded, Returned to Sender or Judged Unfit to Send," in the dystopic scenes and intimate encounters of "Draft # 2006," in the mysterious negotiations of the title poem, the tempos and moods of this book constantly vary. Here, Rich draws on the artistic means of a lifetime.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0393334783
• ISBN13: 9780393334784
• Release Date: May 2009
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Length: 110 Pages
• Weight: 0.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.2" x 5.4" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Adrienne Rich does it again.

Adrienne Rich---now in her late seventies---gives us another terrific book of poems dated 2004-2006. She returns to writing some formal verses, but free verse now seems her most natural form. She even tries some translations. This book is most interesting when she takes us effortlessly, it seems,from the personal to the political.

Hidden Jewels (and maybe hidden depths)

The poems here are more elliptical than Rich's early work with which I'm most familiar. Some are so dense as to be impenetrable, while others read like scattered fragments swept together into a jumble. In most, though, there's a phrase or two that shines out like a jewel. I suspect that their more hidden charms will become apparent on re-reading...