All We Need of Hell: Poems

Front Cover
University of North Texas Press, 1995 - Fiction - 87 pages
Much of what Rika Lesser has to say can be compared to the poetry of Robert Lowell, Sylvia Plath, Ann Sexton, Delmore Schwartz, and other poets who have struggled with manic-depressive illness. What sets her poetry apart, according to Richard Howard, is “the plot and purpose of her sequence to take us through the harrowing experiences she creates in her lines, and out the other side . . . this is where her book differs so from the sensational indulgences we are so familiar with.”

The book begins with poems on suicide attempts, clinical depression and mania which will attract readers with a special interest in “poetic madness.” But in the end the poet turns from death to a full engagement and participation in “normal life” and all that it entails.

In addition to the general poetry audience, this book will appeal to medical ethicists, psychiatrists, psychologists, counselors, and others needing insight into manic-depressive illnesses.
 

Selected pages

Contents

I
3
II
5
III
6
IV
9
V
10
VI
11
VII
12
VIII
14
XXIV
43
XXV
44
XXVI
46
XXVII
48
XXVIII
50
XXIX
51
XXX
52
XXXI
54

IX
15
X
17
XI
21
XII
24
XIV
25
XV
27
XVII
29
XVIII
31
XIX
33
XX
37
XXI
39
XXII
40
XXIII
42
XXXII
56
XXXIII
58
XXXIV
63
XXXV
66
XXXVI
69
XXXVII
73
XXXVIII
74
XXXIX
76
XL
79
XLI
81
XLII
84
Copyright

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All We Need of Hell: Poems
Rika Lesser
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Common terms and phrases

amitriptyline Bipolar Disorder BLACK STONES VII blood body child Craterellus Cyclothymia damned dead dear friend death doctor dream drugs dying Elavil Enckell Escape Attempt Etruscan Ex Ponto eyes fall father fear Finland-Swedish glossary gone Göran Sonnevi Göran Tunström Gunnar Ekelöf hair hand tremor heal heart hold hope hospital Hufvudstadsbladet hydrochloride hypomania Hypomanic kill leave Lithium carbonate lithium level live Major Depressive Episodes Manic Manic-Depressive Illness mask Matthew Matthew's Passion mean memory mind mother Navane Need of Hell Nepenthe never night once pain paintings Paris Review patients pills poet Poetry polyuria psychiatrist Review Rika Lesser Rilke Ruhe sanfte sanfte ruh Shocking Treatment shrink silence sleep sometimes soul speak stay suicide Swedish tears There's things translate tricyclic antidepressants turned Valediction watch wept White Stone window words write

About the author (1995)

Rika Lesser is a prize-winning poet and translator of Swedish and German literature. Among her previous books are Etruscan Things, Rilke: Between Roots, and Guide to the Underworld by Gunnar Ekelof. Her work has appeared in American Poetry Review, The New Yorker, and The New York Times Book Review.

Bibliographic information

TitleAll We Need of Hell: Poems
Clipper Studies in the Theatre
AuthorRika Lesser
PublisherUniversity of North Texas Press, 1995
ISBN0929398920, 9780929398921
Length87 pages
Subjects ›  › 

Fiction / Literary
Poetry / American / General
Poetry / General
  
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