Reviews for Troubled Lovers in History: A Sequence of Poems

The average rating for Troubled Lovers in History: A Sequence of Poems based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2011-06-07 00:00:00 Michael Yu So I'm an old fogey; I really like most of these cultured, intellectual poems. True, I'm not sure about Laughlin's prosy metrics, but not all of the poems are that way -- "Do You Know (Sais-tu)" is musical in both English and French. His responses to the Greeks and Romans are the kind I can relate to; he quotes languages I can read; he studies Sanskrit verse, culture, and metaphysics, which I don't think I ever will, but I like observing. And I'm not offended by the erotic poems even though they're a different sort of thinking than what I'd prefer. I was fascinated by the "pentastichs", little pieces of verse and prose that Laughlin either wrote or collected -- some real gems among them.

Review # 2 was written on 2014-10-24 00:00:00 Misti Saenz One of my favorite poetry books ever. The meter isn't quite perfect, and it doesn't have the sophistication of Merrill or Jones (through whom I discovered him), but he has an everyday beauty and a surprisingly earthy sweetness that makes me contemplate the body/soul duality with every reading.