Geoffrey Hill's MERCIAN HYMNS

Gawd, it's been a month since my last entry .... basically, I've been overwhelmed with busyness, thanks to the end of the semester and working on the anthology. (Oh yes! I now have an advance contract from Fairleigh Dickinson University Press for Speculative Poetry and the Modern Alliterative Revival: A Critical Anthology!)

Anyway. I just read Geoffrey Hill's Mercian Hymns. It's one of those poems that gets ultra high praise .... but that I know that I didn't quite, even after multiple readings, and reading a few reviews and commentaries. (Generally, I'm so much better at prose than at verse).

But then I read the following short review by John Heath-Stubbs, an accomplished poet:

"Like his other poetry it pays the compliment to the reader of not going to meet him half way. [True, dat!] I cannot say that I fully understand the direction of these poems, after more than one reading.”

But, still, Heath-Stubbs continues on, saying (somewhat vaguely) that they’re verging on “epic” territory and “will continue to replay study.”

That makes me a *little* better, although I can't say that Hill's style will ever be quite to my taste.

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