"Ginsberg is both tragic and dynamic, a lyrical genius, con man extraordinaire and probably the single greatest influence on American poetical voice since Whitman." - Bob Dylan
"Ginsberg is responsible for loosening the breath of American poetry at mid-century...Most of all, he has demonstrated that there is nothing in American social and erotic reality which cannot find a place there...His powerful mixture of Blake, Whitman, Pound, and Williams, to which he added his own volatile, grotesque, and tender humor, has assured him a memorable place in modern poetry." - Helen Vendler
"Taken all together, Ginsberg's poems are X-rays of a considerable part of American society during the last four decades." - The New Yorker
"His powerful mixture of Blake, Whitman, Pound, and Williams, to which he added his own volatile, grotesque, and tender humor, has assured him a memorable place in modern poetry." - Helen Vendler
"The mammoth new COLLECTED POEMS, 1947-1997 places Ginsberg firmly among the most prolific poets of the age." - Washington Post Book World
"Ginsberg's poems are reminders that those who face a culture's disapproval can approve themselves." - The Progressive
"At 1,200 pages, the current volume testifies to the poet's scope and indefatigable energy; there's a lot to like...The best of his verse in COLLECTED POEMS 1947-1997 accumulates with a relentless, visionary eye, his characteristic mix of activism and mysticism enduring in his aging body, still howling." - Chicago Sun-Times
"he wrote any number of splendid, singular poems that no other American poet of our age was capable of penning...the Spoken Word, Romantic, street-smart, vatic, wise-ass, good-humored anti-academic drift in American verse is largely the stepchild of his singular brilliance." - San Diego Union-Tribune
"The volume gathers for the first time all the published verse of beat poet Ginsberg, whose raw voice led poetry in a new, radical direction...Taken together, this collection serves as Ginsberg's autobiography and a history, in verse, of a turbulent time in American culture." - Salt Lake City Tribune
"as the new volume shows [Ginsberg] was a lyric poet of the old school preoccupied with passion, place and fate, whose consciousness, under pressure from the Bomb, released weird new isotopes into the atmosphere." - New York Times Book Review
"The COLLECTED POEMS" are the ultimate statement on Ginsberg's art." - Chicago Tribune
"Essential...COLLECTED POEMS...is easily the best of the bunch...Some 50 years later, Ginsberg's talent still glows on paper." - The Post and Courier
"Sooner or later, anyone interested in American poetry must embrace Allen Ginsberg." - Houston Chronicle
"A hefty, brilliant volume that shows Ginsberg (1926-97) to be not only a legendary protest writer but also a lyric poet preoccupied with passion, place and fate." - New York Times
"If you want to read Ginsberg's poetry, you should go straight to the source. COLLECTED POEMS 1947-1997 gathers everything, from the early work of "Empty Mirror" to the last pieces he completed before his death...One is continually blown away by Ginsberg's poetic structures." - Los Angeles Times
"The volume gathers for the first time all the published verse of...poet Ginsberg...A history...of a turbulent time." - Salt Lake City Tribune
