From Library Journal
Wojahn's (Late Empire, Univ. of Pittsburgh, 1994) work provides a wide array of formal styles?from the couplet to the sonnet. He constructs an interesting villanelle using unconventional stanza patterns, and the structure of his syntax is reminiscent of the late John Berryman, but Wojahn provides more clarity and coherence. He knows when to sacrifice sound for sense and vice versa. His themes address the pop culture of film and music, but he also addresses classic themes such as Eurydice's return to Hades. He asks the classic question, "And how, indeed, could such beauty be borne,/ except on the shoulders of a god?" Often these classical characters and pop films are used as metaphors for death, loneliness, and melancholy that have been reinvented or restructured in the 20th century. The strongest section is the long poem "The Nightingales." Recommended for most collections.?Tim Gavin, Episcopal Acad., Merion, Pa.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From The New Yorker
"In Wojahn's fifth collection of verse-the first since the death of his wife, the poet Lynda Hull-loss and language seem both more at odds and more inseparable than ever...."
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
