Monday, April 15, 2013

A Review after Crossing the Hill

Hollander finishes off The Work of Poetry with an entry that breaks his pattern. Where the rest of his featured poets were American, he ends with some words on Geoffrey Hill, of England. Though the same could be said of the previous chapter on May Swenson, Hollander here spends his words in unequivocal praise. And with good reason - his showcase of Geoffrey Hill really does make him sound like an incredible poet whose works are indeed dense.

However, I wonder why other nations weren't represented. Canada certainly has some great poets, and Ireland definitely does (Seamus Heaney, and Derek Mahon spring to mind). That doesn't even touch on works in translation, though that does raise questions about translation that would only join those of a poet's skill that Hollander more than eagerly asks.

On the whole, Hollander's book is an excellent "welcome back" book for anyone who's studied poetry before. He wastes no time re-introducing concepts of meter or structure, and immediately seizes on just what poetry does. However, he also gives an unabashedly positive look at all of the poets he writes about, providing no negative examples. These are important for poetry, since it's sometimes easier to see what works by knowing what doesn't.

Hollander also gives an unfair focus to American and English poets considering his title is "The Work of Poetry" and not "The Work of Poetry in the Modern English Speaking World." He writes of some early modern and ancient poets briefly, but his overarching lack of variety in the poets he writes about undermines somewhat his belief that true poetry is something that can be mined for meaning nearly endlessly. If he believes that it's not necessary to go over such old fields as Chaucer or the early works of Anglo Saxon poetry since all the new corn's been harvested, he does not make this clear.

So, those looking for a refresher course on poetry in general could do better as far as the variety of poets featured is concerned. Those seeking a refresher course in modernist American poetry, though, have picked up just the right title.

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