A
Literary Saloon
&
Site of Review.

Trying to meet all your book preview and review needs.

Contents:

Main

the Best

the Rest

Review Index

Links

to e-mail us:

the complete review - poetry

New & Collected Poems
1952-1992

by
Geoffrey Hill

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

Poems from:

• For the Unfallen (1959)
• King Log (1968)
• Mercian Hymns (1971)
• Tenebrae (1978)
• The Mystery of the Charity of Charles Péguy (1983)
• New Poems (1992)

- Return to top of the page -

Our Assessment:

B : powerful, though often obscure poetry

See our review for fuller assessment.

  From the Reviews:

• "Terse in phrasing, dense with uncomfortable messages, aloof in tone, his poems command respect even as one wonders whether reading them should seem so much like performing a penance." - Robert B. Shaw, Poetry

Please note that these ratings solely represent the complete review's biased interpretation and subjective opinion of the actual reviews and do not claim to accurately reflect or represent the views of the reviewers. Similarly the illustrative quotes chosen here are merely those the complete review subjectively believes represent the tenor and judgment of the review as a whole. We acknowledge (and remind and warn you) that they may, in fact, be entirely unrepresentative of the actual reviews by any other measure.

- Return to top of the page -

The complete review's Review:

       A comprehensive collection covering a large part of the esteemed poet's career this is a useful, varied volume. The dense, allusive poetry of Hill appeals to us. He is an intelligent poet with a fine sense of language. His poetry is tightly compressed and demanding, though this volume benefits from the variety offered
       The Mercian Hymns is an autobiographical series that also recounts the story of King Offa, an insightful collection. King Log is a darker series of poems including such pieces as the brilliant Ovid in the Third Reich. Throughout we can follow the evolution of the poet, as he experiments (and succeeds) with a variety of forms and subjects.
       The poems are complex -- brief and lyrical, but difficult -- and he is too religious for our taste, but well worth the considerable effort required. Hill is one of the major English-language poets, and this an exemplary collection. It's not for everyone, but it deserves a wide audience. Give it a try.

- Return to top of the page -

Links:

• Publishers Weekly

• For the Unfallen
• King Log
• Mercian Hymns
• The Mystery of the Charity of Charles Péguy
• Tenebrae

• 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
• The Orchards of Syon
• Speech ! Speech !
• Style and Faith
• A Treatise of Civil Power
• The Triumph of Love
• Without Title

• See also the index of Poetry under review

- Return to top of the page -

About the Author:

       English poet Geoffrey Hill was born in 1932. A graduate of Keble College, Oxford, he has taught at the University of Leeds, at Cambridge, and at Boston University.

- Return to top of the page -

© 1999-2019 the complete review

Main | the New | the Best | the Rest | Review Index | Links