This is an utterly charming book that grew out of a game Wilbur played with his family in which each member had to name the opposite of a specific term. The rhymes seem effortless, never strained, and Wilbur has illustrated the thing himself with a series of simple but effective drawings.

Recommended for poetry lovers of all ages.

A genius poems by Nobel Prize winner Russian poet J. Brodsky will lead you through the magic of words, ideas, and wolrd experience. Brodsky united in his poetry the brightest thoughts and deepest emotions of The Russian Personality. This is a strongly recomended book for everyone who is trying to understand the mystery of "Russian soul".

My children love this book. Richard Wilbur and Henrik Drescher filled a gap missing in childrens books, reaching out to the artsy, far-out, a bit wacky child who need humor and a bit of strangeness to succeed in enjoying books and especially poetry. Great for rhyming words and increasing a young ones vocabulary in a not so normal way. Thank you!

i greatly enjoyed this book. it was amusing and terribly funny. i could barely put it down. the characters were life-like and i found myself wrapped up in their twisted plot. i would recommend this book for anyone that wants a liesurely read.

A good sign that a poet is talented: Richard Wilbur writes the introduction to your first collection. Tim Murphy is different from the Formalist poets. Murphy has masted the short line--the dimeter or trimeter. Murphy's poems are metrically sound, without being sing-song. More often than not his rhymes are original and flow with the poem. And though the short line is often used for light verse, Murphy shows that it can be powerful when used seriously. Murphy's poems are the poems of the farmer (a highly educated and well-read farmer) and are easily accessible. The few poems that are of longer line length are also well done, showing that Murphy can write in pentameter as well. I didn't like the final section as much, titled "Early Poems" which I'm guessing he wrote in his youth. The poems are classical in nature and subject, their line lengths are longer, and though they are good, I think can see them as the poems he wrote while trying to find his voice. And I'm glad he did, because it is a strong voice. These poems are a joy to read, and I look forward to reading his new book. (My favorite poems: "The Peg-leg Pig", "Jasper Lake", "Lonesome Peak", "The Quarrel" and "A Dog Young and Old")

"Brevity is the soul of wit," said Polonius. In the poems of Timothy Murphy it is that and so much more-mockery, tenderness, dread, humor, despair, charm, bitter wisdom, and serious whimsy. The compression of Murphy's art-short poems with short lines propelled by meter and rhyme-leaves no space for false moves or stylistic awkwardness. Each poem is pure muscle and breath molded to its task and exulting in its motion. And despite the short format, Murphy by turns unleashes and restrains an aural playfulness that delights in whole mouthfuls of sound. His engagement with life equals his engagement with language. The Deed of Gift, his first full-length book of poems, published at age 47 after a life grounded in the stark realities of farming in North Dakota, is divided into four parts: I. Farming All Night, about that way of life and the view of nature it compels; II. Je Me Souviens, with its poems each steeped in a sense of place ranging from the Arctic to Martinique; III. The Gift of Hera, in large part a meditation on the art of writing: IV. Father of the Man, an exploration of family and home; V. Early Poems, revealing that Murphy started as a witty and energetic classicist, educated to the hilt and wise in the ways of books. The theme of homosexuality that appears here in a flashy 3rd person voice reappears sparingly in the later poems in his own deeper, unforgettable 1st person. Every poem in this book is perfectly achieved. Marvel at the art of it.

Timothy Murphy is one of my favorite living poets. He writes short, clear, accessible lyrics in meter and rhyme, most of them about the trials of farm life and prairie living. (But you don't have to be a farmer to appreciate them -- I live in New York City.) They are full of intensity and pathos. He has that magical ability to paint a vivid picture with just a few words. I would liken his writing to Emily Dickinson, but it doesn't have Dickinson's idiosyncracies. In my opinion, he is one of the best poets writing today. Please e-mail me a for a link where some of Murphy's poems can be viewed, and then come back and buy this book!

Mayflies served as a reminder to me of the power of poetry...language at its most intense.

It would do us all good to occasionally take some time out to read poetry. Words, with their subtle and differing meanings in combination are the backbone of civilization and in the hands of a master can generate so many different emotions. This collection, not all of which are by Richard Wilbur, are shining examples of the craft and art of poetry. Each moved me in different ways every time I read them, demonstrating the he is indeed worthy of his Pulitzer Prize. I highly recommend it for your poetic interludes.

Richard Wilbur, our best living poet of the formal (and yes, often rhyming!) mode, is still writing wonderfully complex, insightful poems. He can be compared to March King John Philip Sousa, who also embraced a formal genre which other composers may have found stultifying. It is evidence of the time-defying talents of both men that their later work is as fresh and engaging as the efforts of their youth, and as unlimited by the highly structured forms they both chose. People hearing a Sousa march today are as taken with its infectious high spirits as those who heard it a hundred years ago. I believe that Wilbur's poems will prove as moving and as enduring. The best poem is the title work, "Mayflies." As a Lay Carmelite I especially savor the lines, "...called to be/ Not fly or star/ But one whose task is joyfully to see/ How fair the fiats of the caller are." Read this life-enhancing poem, and draw nearer to the Caller who created stars and mayflies, and poets too!

The Misanthrope is a play about the principled Alceste, a regular Don Quixote of honesty and speaking one's mind. Despite the advice of his "friend" Philinte (apparently the playwright's voice), he never pulls any punches in revealing the vanity and superficiality of the court and the nobles (the Misanthrope was written during the reign of Louis XIV). While exposing the shallow flatterers for what they are, the play also points out the vain-glorious and quite ridiculous aspects of pursuing an ideal at any cost. As is known, Moliere is considered one of the greatest playwrights and a master of comedy. Partly because of this elevated status, I was a little disappointed by the Misanthrope. It does not reach the comic heights of the Greek comedies or Shakespeare, and as a comment on principled people it is certainly inferior to Ibsen's Brand. It is quite possible that it is more engaging when performed on stage, but as a read it is less than I expected.

Moliere's "The Misanthrope" is the most humorous play written in any language. It centers around the character Alceste, who has a firm beleif in being brutally honest all the time. The habit of others to speak harshly behind other's backs and hypocritically praise them to their faces drives him to the brink of insanity. It irks him so much that his only wish would be to become a hermit in the mountains. If it weren't for his love of the beautiful Celimene. However, to make things more complicated, she happens to be the queen of duplicitous thought. Alceste hates himself for loving a woman who behaves in the manner that irritates him the most, but cannot bring himself to confront what troubles him. That, paired with the remarkably written exchanges between Alceste, his friend Philinte, the pompous Oronte, and the many social courtiers and French aristocracy make this the ideal story to bring you to tears with laughter. I highly recommend this book to all lovers of theater, humor, and excellent writing. It truly deserves all 5 stars.

France in politically powerful and economically wealthy. King Louis XIV saw himself as ruling over an enlightened society. He was passionate about the arts and obsessive about theatre. Moliere wrote comedy. He contrasts what people are to what they think of themselves. Moliere's audience was spoiled, well educated, bourgeois, aristocratic and royal. The audience wanted to be entertained, to laugh and to be cheerful. The Misanthrope was controversial but a box office success. The play takes place in Celimene's house where she entertains a variety of visitors. Her visitors are relatives, friends and suitors who spend their time much as the upper society of the day. They dressed, penned and received letters wrote poems and libelous prose. They visited each other, hoped to be noticed by royalty and the litigious pursed lawsuits to uphold their reputations. Several suitors vie for Celimene's favour. Her malicious wit and her reluctance to pick one partner over the others cause her to end up alone. The play begins with Alceste and Philinte arguing about one of the social conventions of the day. Alceste declares that it is morally wrong to falsely flatter and Philinte says we must be tolerant of peoples behaviour. These two alternatives a-re frequently presented to the audience. There are two ways to approach the world and one is as good as the other. Throughout the play the characters axe thrown up against this dilemma with a variety of responses and outcomes. Each player presents as a contradiction with a hidden core. So that, depending on how one chooses to read the play, the characters can be interpreted in a variety of ways. This is were the fun begins, Alceste has been interpreted by many audiences as a noble, heroic idealist, a champion of honesty. He also can be seen as a rigid extremist, an absolutist whose maniacal criticism is quickly tiresome. He criticizes societies corruptions and acts like a conceited prig. Celimen is a chilly shrew or bewitchingly shrewd. She employs the conventions of the times in that she is a gossip, she has a malicious wit etc. but she is an admirable character. Philinte and Eliante are studiously tolerant of everyone and are consummate bores. Alceste's passionate assertion on the ideal of truth and honesty verses falsity comes across as absurdity. His absolutist stance is difficult to examine. He is a rigid extremist obsessed with his vision of right. He is in love with a person who embodies everything he abhors i.e. a coquette who falsely flatters, who is a witty gossip and although he professes tohe wants to change her and at the end of the play Celimene is abandoned to society and Alceste leaves her stranded even though he first wished she was helpless so that he could rescue her. His passion is out of proportion to events. i.e. Alceste advises Philante that hanging would be an appropriate response to falsely flattering. He is unable to apply anything he says to himself so that he thinks that he is reasonable and he is mostly unreasonable, bad tempered and brusque i.e. instead of an apology regarding his lawsuit he hopes he is guilty so that he can show the stupidity of society. The play is derisive of bourgeois behaviour but with Alceste as the messenger one wonders if Moliere is serious. Philinte and Eliante who are perhaps the Epicureans in the play stand for reasonable tolerance but they seem iust tedious i.e. Eliante's prescription for how love works. Celimene is the character who generates the most empathy. Even so, she ruthlessly rips everyone apart. She is quick and intelligent with the small talk. She is beautiful, rich, independent and her salon is the gathering place of the moment. She is the one who displays the most false behavior but perhaps she is the most honest. Truth and honesty, usually traits to strive for, in Alceste's character, seem somehow less than desirable. His passion and contradictory behaviour smack of insincerity, the very trait he claims to despise. This culture is obsessed with wealth and power and societal recognition. The currency is wit, youth, beauty. Celimene is aware that she has a very short time to establish herself before she will have the status of Arsinone, an older prude who is relegated to the ranks of visitor rather than someone who people want to visit. Even though Celimene plays by the rules she fails. Alceste and Celimene are totally unsuited to each other but perhaps they share obsession: he to distaste, she to taste. Alceste claims the more one loves the less one should forgive. Alceste courts isolation but at the end of the play Philinte and Eliante stick with him. Such a small book with such a rich context.

The most amazing thing about this play is the skill of its author. The story is original and interesting. The actual writing is what captivated me. So witty is the dialogue, so humorous it is at times, that I laughed out loud. It is quite amazing that such ancient text sounds like something you would hear on a sitcom. This is not boring or confusing speech, like in Shakespeare; this is very down-to-earth. Aside from the alluring rhyme, Moliere has an incredible ability to take a page-long theme and express it perfectly and succinctly in one sentence, and with poignancy. If I were given the task of writing dialogue about the theme of hypocrisy, I would write page after page of ineffective, watered-down, wordy dialogue that repeatedly misses the mark of expressing the point well. Moliere's lines, however, are so well-crafted that the ideas are ingeniously short and accurate. He fits so many good points into one entertaining, rhythmic, memorable sentence. Tartuffe is my favorite play of all!

Pulizter-winning poet Richard Wilbur has chosen to dedicate years of his life to making worthy English translations of the plays of Moliere with the idea no one will have to again for a hundred years. His confidence in his own translations is enormous, and correct. This is Moliere in the language of today -- direct, witty, insightful, hilarious. Tartuffe sends up hypocrisy, religious and otherwise, in a bourgeois farce of escalating absurdity.

This particular translation won the prestigious Bollingen Prize. The only thing going against it is that you can essentially get two-for-the-price-of-one by getting Wilbur's Tartuffe and The Misanthrope together in another book. That book even contains the same introduction. But why stop there? I can't praise Wilbur's Molieres highly enough. If you like The Misanthrope and Tartuffe, check out the other ones, like The School for Wives and Amphitryon, two personal favorites.

WARNING! This cornucopia of lechery, blastphemy and hypocracy has been found to be an addiction for the adult mind! Before you know it, you will have a Moliere monkey on your back, begging you to obtain more of this spectacular playwright's work. The play is a sordid tale of a "religious man" who comes into a bourgeois household and wreaks absolute bedlam. Tartuffe is the name of this man of the cloth (though he would prefer to have no cloth on whatsoever) who sparks this hilarious story. However, don't let the idea of farcical pinchings and burlesque tendencies fool you, for underneath all of that is a shining and thought-provoking literary work that is still revered today. It was the first play to ask questions about the undertones of staunch religion. The principle of having a monk as a villian has not been so well told since Rasputin. To add to the delightfully sinister plot, the play is written in the elegant verse of Moliere. Do not be put-upon by rhyming couplets! In this translation, the words begin to roll off the tongue and the brain in an almost watercolor manner, painting imagery on the canvas of your mind in a soothing and relaxing manner. And as for actors, I could not imagine a play with more vivid characters and witty dialogue. It is not stale or dusty as so many translations are, but has kept the freshness and zing over the centuries. If you want to keep yourself awake at night, or want to send the dinner guests packing, whip out Tartuffe and watch the eyes bulge. And perhaps some tips can be taken from old Tartuffe, for Moliere reminds us all that the unattainable is often percieved as the most desirable. Oh, and don't leave it around the kids.

Siebold's zany illustrations accompany whimsical poems by Wilbur which combine plays on words with instructions about language. Kids receive some fun lessons on word usage along with some fun images representing the best of fantasy.

I really like these little poems -- and the OPPOSITES books by Wilbur, too (recently republished in a single volume) but the humor and style might not be appreciated by all kids. I don't think is aimed at kids just learning how to read, it's more of an introduction to light poetry and wordplay.

I have to add I just don't like the J. Otto Seibold illustrations much (well, the grateful little pig rescued from the spigot is cute) -- I have some friends who love the Mr. Lunch series and I never really got it, they just seem cluttered and ugly to me. But Richard Wilbur is great!

My 8 year old son likes these poems, too, though perhaps not as much as I do -- on the other hand, he doesn't seem to find the illustrations as ugly as I do, either, so we may balance each other out.

We spent some time after reading the book trying to think of similar word combinations -- we might even write our own poems about them. Any book that gets me playing word games with Morris gets 5 stars! (Not that it's hard to get him to play, it's just so much fun to do it!)

Incidentally, the opposite books are great for this, too!

Great illustrations, a fun addition to a phonics-based curriculum! I really enjoy reading this with my grandchildren. Some of the words will probably be new for many children... a good thing!