Geoffrey Hill has said that some great poetry 'recognises that words fail us'. These essays explore Hill's struggle over fifty years with the recalcitrance of language. This book seeks to show how all his work is marked by the quest for the right...
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Geoffrey Hill has said that some great poetry 'recognises that words fail us'. These essays explore Hill's struggle over fifty years with the recalcitrance of language. This book seeks to show how all his work is marked by the quest for the right pitch of utterance whether it is sorrowing, angry, satiric or erotic. It shows how Hill's words are never lightly 'acceptable' but an ethical act, how he seeks out words he can stand by - words that are 'getting it right'.This book is the most comprehensive and up-to-date critical work on Geoffrey Hill so far, covering all his work up to ?Scenes from
9780719067549; 9780719067549; Copyright Page; Contents; Acknowledgements; Abbreviations; 'Acceptable words'; 'The speechless dead': King Log (1968); Poet, lover, liar: 'Lachrimae' (1975); 'Our love is what we love to have':Tenebrae (1978); Things and words: The Mystery of theCharity of Charles Péguy (1983); History as poetry: 'Churchill's Funeral' and'De Jure Belli ac Pacis' (Canaan, 1996); The Triumph of Love (1998); 'Beauty is difficult':Speech! Speech! (2000); 'Here and there I pull a flower':The Orchards of Syon (2002)
'In wintry solstice like the shorten'd light':Scenes from Comus (2005)Afterword: '"I have not finished"'; Notes; Select bibliography; Index;
