The Fall & Other Poems [Paperback]

J. Bottum (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Bottum is a regular contributor to First Things, the magazine of the Institute on Religion and Public Life, in which many of the poems in this collection first appeared. If you detect a Christian sensibility in the book, you are only properly attentive. The title of the longest poem in it is a clue, of course: "The Fall," not "Fall," although it is about autumn in New England. Like many other poems here, it is rife with religious feeling, conjured by a declaration like "The world is kindling for the Lord," by the coincidence of biblical town names, and by the hopeful, grateful questions that conclude it: "What mercy after such forgiveness? / What resurrection waits on spring?" The celebration of the beauty of purely earthly things, the acknowledgment of human inadequacy and contingency, and the thankfulness "for broken things" that Bottum asks for in the opening poem, "Baptism," are constants throughout poems that display considerable formal and tonal variety. Exemplary religiously informed poetry. Ray Olson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product Details

• Paperback: 71 pages
• Publisher: St Augustine Pr Inc (November 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1587312506
• ISBN-13: 978-1587312502
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,557,997 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful book of poetry, December 4, 2001

By 

Catherine E. Roy (San Francisco) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Fall & Other Poems (Paperback)

"The Fall & Other Poems" by J. Bottum is a well-crafted, wonderfully written book of poetry. The imagery of this poetry has an elegance and poignancy that is truly breathtaking. While this book has religious overtones, you do not have to be religious to appreciate Mr. Bottum's poetry and deep feelings. A great gift book that I intend to include in this year's Christmas stockings.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very pleasant surprise., August 19, 2008

By 

Robert P. Beveridge "xterminal" (Lakewood, OH) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Fall & Other Poems (Paperback)

J. Bottum, The Fall and Other Poems (St. Augustine's, 2001)

I'd not thought this was going to be any great shakes, being both a book of nothing but formal poetry (I can't think of a poet save Marilyn Hacker who's been able to pull such a thing off for thirty years or so) and released under a Christian imprint, but oh how wrong I was. There was a magazine in the Poet's Market who used to say they'd only take religious poetry (forgive my awful paraphrasing) if you could do it like John Donne did or Will Inman does; Bottum certainly qualifies. In addition, the Christian messages to be found here are not delivered with the iron mallet one normally finds in religious poetry, and Bottum also has a great sense of humor, as he shows in his review-in-rhyme for the book Modern Catholic Verse:

"Oh, and did I mention the pope?
But don't let the contents-page raise too much hope,
for it's after John Paul that things start to get worse:
There aren't enough Catholics writing good verse.
"Contemporary", I thought, means just today.
It makes you wonder if old Claude McKay
knew when he died more than fifty years back
that Craig and McCann would dig him up for their claque?"

As with most books of poetry, it does flag now and again, but all in all, it's one of the better poetry collections I've read this year. Bottum's ear for language is tuned quite fine, as is his ability to take more controversial subjects and treat them with the delicate touch required. Very good stuff, this, and highly recommended. ****

1 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars this is pretty awful, February 15, 2004

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[e-mail] "[e-mail]" (Beaumont, tx USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Fall & Other Poems (Paperback)

most collections of poetry i find hard to be anything but ambivalent about, so i get real excited when i come across a great collection. i can even get excited about coming across a collection as bad as this one. at least it makes me feel something. the topics are banal or preachy. bottum has only the most basic grasp of form and what he does know is used ineffectively.