Tesserae: And Other Poems - Softcover

Hollander, John

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0679762000 ISBN 13: 9780679762003

Publisher: Knopf, 1995

Synopsis

The title poem is interwoven with a varied collection of lyrics, narratives, puzzles, and translations

About this title

From Library Journal

The poems in Hollander's 12th book of poetry, published simultaneously with his Selected Poetry , exhibit technical mastery, including rhyme and word play, but lack heart. They do not pulse with that "white heat" that Dickinson termed necessary for poetry. On the plus side, MacArthur Award Winner Hollander is skilled in the use of playful language. Consider his description of a New England river: "Connect... and Cut--those things all rivers do." The title poem is a reflection on death: "I who have walked in light now make my bed/ In the dark of which there's nothing to be said." It takes up about half the collection but for some reason has been subdivided, one part placed in each section of the book between other poems and thus detracting from the poem's mood and narrative drive. Other poetry topics include an old counting game, early inscriptions, and a painting by Edward Hopper. Not an essential purchase.
- Doris Lynch, Monroe Ctny. P.L., Bloomington, In.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

The Kid Was Already Noxious Carrion
An Old Counting-game
10/28/29
Air For The Musette
Ballad For An Old Tune, No Refrain
Behind The Beaux-arts
Bread And Butter!
Cissy's Song
Colored Illustration, Tipped-in
Early Inscription
Edward Hopper's Seven A.m. (1948)
Far Away
February Madrigal
From Out Of The Black
Green-shadowed Rocks
Into The Black
Making Nothing Happen
An Old-fashioned Song
On North Rock
Perseus Holds Medusa's Head Aloft
River Remembered
The See-saw
Selected Short Subjects
The Tesserae (i)
The Tesserae (ii)
The Tesserae (iii)
The Tesserae (iv)
Variations On A Fragment By Trumbull Stickney
The Week's Events
-- Table of Poems from Poem Finder®

Edition details

• Publisher: Knopf
• Publication date: 1995
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0679762000
• ISBN 13: 9780679762003
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 89