Hide Now [Hardcover]

Glyn Maxwell (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 25, 2008

Glyn Maxwell's previous book, The Sugar Mile, was heralded as a bold expansion of the art of poetry. Hide Now, his newest collection, written in wry, colloquial language and employing a brilliant array of poetic forms, delivers a commentary on the icons and iconic moments of the present. With a vision both apocalyptic and comic, Maxwell takes us from Robespierre to Dick Cheney to Guns N' Roses, from the unearthly quiet of a war zone to the pompous flapping of a flag to the sound of a departed friend's voice: "a certain note / I almost hear, can almost manage / in this throat." Hide Now is further evidence that Maxwell is the most adept heir to the poetic legacies of W. H. Auden and Robert Frost; James Wood described him as "the major poet of his generation." Fierce, direct, and bristling with intelligence, Hide Now is a remarkable addition to the oeuvre of a truly original poet.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Wit, versatility and gloom are the watchwords in this ninth collection from the celebrated Englishman Maxwell. He worries about his own demise ("Do me my elegy now"), about the inefficacies and uncertainties in his own poetic language ("Dream I had had depended/ on puns"), about old age (in "Lit Windows," a fine if covert homage to Philip Larkin) and about ecological disaster. Maxwell's greatest concern, however, in the wake of 9/11, is about the fate of the world's great cities and of its all too bellicose nation-states. Maxwell holds the volume together with several poems on modern incarnations of the cursed ancient prophet Cassandra, whose predictions were always dismissed. He concludes with three such poems in a row, among them "Blues for Cassie," a haunting bit of cultural cross-pollination in which the fall of Troy becomes the fall of the Twin Towers: "Woke up as lonesome as the single/ snapshot at Grand Central--/ of thousands on a wall/ one endless fall." Maxwell's skill with the spoken language is on display again, as he stitches casual phrase work into bolts of meter and swaths of rhyme. Supporters will no doubt again liken him to Auden; detractors may once again find him a bit glib. (Sept.)
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About the Author

Glyn Maxwell is the author of nine books of poetry, including, most recently, The Sugar Mile. He is also a dramatist whose�plays have been staged in New York, Edinburgh, and London. His latest play,�Liberty,�had its world premiere in the summer of 2008�at Shakespeare's Globe.�Among other honors, he has won the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize, the Somerset Maugham Award, and the E. M. Forster Prize. He was the poetry editor of the New Republic from 2001 to 2007.�He lives in London.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 88 pages
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (September 25, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0547154100
• ISBN-13: 978-0547154107
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,451,920 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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