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the complete review - poetry

King Log

by
Geoffrey Hill

general information | review summaries | our review | links | about the author

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Our Assessment:

B+ : direct and forceful poetry, and a good introduction to his work.

See our review for fuller assessment.

Please refer to reviews for New and Collected Poems.

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The complete review's Review:

       A more accessible collection than much of Hill's work, it straddles the divide between his early efforts and his later, more intense and political poetry. Beginning with the important Ovid in the Third Reich, Hill's interests here include the horrors of the Third Reich, but also look farther back in history, using the examples of the fates of numerous poets in several of the poems. Explaining both Hill's method and preoccupation one poem is even titled History as Poetry
       A small collection, it nevertheless serves as an excellent introduction to the poet, showing many of his concerns and much of his talent in poems that are concise and lyrical. They are not easy poems, but they are effective without necessarily requiring a complete grasp of the historical context of their subjects. Recommended as an introduction to the poet.

       N O T E : this collection is included in Hill's New and Collected Poems, 1952-1992 and we recommend that you get this more comprehensive collection.

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Links:

• See general reviews regarding New and Collected Poems

• The complete review's Geoffrey Hill page.
• Geoffrey Hill at the Poetry Foundation
• Profile in The Guardian

• The Book of Baruch by the Gnostic Justin
• Canaan
• For the Unfallen
• Mercian Hymns
• The Mystery of the Charity of Charles Péguy
• New and Collected Poems
• The Orchards of Syon
• Speech ! Speech !
• Style and Faith
• Tenebrae
• A Treatise of Civil Power
• The Triumph of Love
• Without Title

• See also the index of Poetry under review

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About the Author:

       English poet Geoffrey Hill lived 1932 to 2016. A graduate of Keble College, Oxford, he has taught at the University of Leeds, at Cambridge, and at Boston University.

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