Magnificat: Poems - Hardcover

Nelson, Marilyn; Waniek, Marilyn Nelson

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0807119210 ISBN 13: 9780807119211

Publisher: Louisiana State Univ Pr, 1994

Synopsis

Over the course of her career, Marilyn Nelson Waniek has established herself as a poet of formidable power and range, an achievement that was acknowledged in 1991, when her third book, The Homeplace, was named a finalist for the National Book Award. Her newest collection shows that she is poised for even greater recognition.
Like The Homeplace, Magnificat is less a collection of individual poems than it is a dramatic narrative composed along the single centering line of a voice that is intimate and conversational, warm and humorous - and yet also capable of a breathtaking level of passion. Many of the poems center on a man, a contemporary of the poet whom she knew and fell in love with when they were university students, but who has since become a Benedictine monk. In contemplating what her friend's spiritual life means to him, Waniek embarks on a spiritual quest of her own.
The section called Plain Songs contains poems in which Waniek reflects on the small ways in which her life is blessed, even down to the joy of receiving an unexpected letter from a long-lost friend.
A section of subtle, humorous poems modeled after the ancient Sayings of the Desert Fathers reveals the pithy wisdom of a monk Waniek calls Abba Jacob. Here is Abba Jacob's response when asked to confirm that a series of unlikely occurrences were miraculous:
Big deal, said Abba Jacob. Miracles happen all the time. We're here, aren't we?
Miraculous may be the word readers will choose to describe Magnificat. It is at once a spiritual book about human love and a human book about spiritual love.

About this title

About the Author

Marilyn Nelson Waniek has taught at the University of Connecticut at Storrs since 1978.

From Publishers Weekly

The subject of Waniek's (The Homeplace) fourth collection-discovering faith in God-may not be a fashionable theme. But her passion, sincerity and self-deprecating humor will engage even the most skeptical reader in the joys and frustrations of her quest for spiritual awakening. For instance, in the book's opening poems Waniek describes a 20-year longing for a friend who has become a Benedictine monk. As she contemplates his religious vocation, her feelings gradually evolve from profane love to religious devotion. In "Plain Songs," the thirst for a holy knowledge competes with the tug of worldly wants and weaknesses until the poet realizes that blessedness is found in ordinary things. The book's high point is a witty series of poems featuring an imaginary desert father called Abba Jacob, a holy "fool" whose pithy utterances have an engaging, hard-headed wisdom ("Big deal,/ said Abba Jacob./ Miracles happen all the time./ We're here,/ aren't we?"). Like him, Waniek's accounts of her struggles with her faith are disarmingly direct and unpretentious. She has succeeded in the tricky task of describing this intensely personal (and vulnerable) experience with intelligence, spirit and humility.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Louisiana State Univ Pr
• Publication date: 1994
• ISBN 10: 0807119210
• ISBN 13: 9780807119211
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 56