Midwest Eclogue: Poems [Paperback]

David Baker (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 17, 2007

"The most expansive and moving poet to come out of the American Midwest since James Wright."—Marilyn Hacker

Midwest Eclogue is a profound dialogue between the heartland and the heart. David Baker's devotions are erotic and familial, natural and environmental, literary and social. Inspired by the landscape of the Midwest, Baker's landscape of human passions—haunted by roots and wings—is rendered in a rich and polyphonic craft.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Virgil was the grand master of the game Baker plays. The great Roman's bucolic clogues, which depicted the sensuality and even rank eroticism of rural life, established a genre that has lasted through two millennia and that Baker revives majestically and tenderly. Although erudite and handy with allusions to John Clare, Walt Whitman, and Robert Burton, Baker never wanders too far from the natural world that entrances and mystifies him. His daughter's hyperactivity becomes a moment of mystery when her brain and body are paradoxically calmed by stimulants. So does a frightened horse's sudden storm of fear that leaves him bleeding, awed, intensely alive. These are surprisingly gracious, almost casual poems, despite their impeccable formalism and unreserved learnedness. Masterful and moving, they make up a book that lives up to the historic resonance in its title. Patricia Monaghan
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

[Baker] captures the everyday in all its surreal repetition. (Chicago Tribune )

Surprising yet compelling....A mature poet with a keen eye. (Weekly Standard )

Baker craft[s]...lyrical moments from the patient observation of landscape and animal life...such moments possess that rare ability to delight and provoke. (Harvard Review )

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 112 pages
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company (April 17, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393329615
• ISBN-13: 978-0393329612
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.4 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,667,547 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best Book I've Read This Year..., December 6, 2005

By 

Miami Reader (Miami) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Midwest Eclogue: Poems (Hardcover)

...And I read a lot of books. If you are looking for a book of poems by a smart, humane, passionate poet, here's the book you need to read. If you're tired of the pretentious incomprehensible word constructions of the hip ironic poets, read these poems instead. If you like poetry that's both musically rich and emotionally adult, complex and yet precise, here's your book. The poem "Hyper," about his daughter's diagnosis of ADHD, is by itself worth the price of the book. I'll be reading this collection for years to come.

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful, June 14, 2006

By 

Emily Jo Scalzo (West Lafayette, IN USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Midwest Eclogue: Poems (Hardcover)

The poetry in this book is stunning. Two of Baker's favorite poets are Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman, and it really shows. The language is tight and flowing and beautiful, and his poetry addresses many different issues: ADHD, cancer, environmental ruin, etc, in a story format.