Customer Reviews

For a Modest God: New and Selected Poems (Grove Press Poetry Series)

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Eric Ormsby takes his place among the great poets of the 20th century with his New and Selected poems. He is at home with traditional forms, metrics, and rhyme. He is comfortable with free verse and imagistic poetry. This collection shows a range that is matched only by the very best poets such as Wallace Stevens, W. H. Auden, David Slavitt, and Robert Penn Warren.

Ormsby is also a well-rounded thinker and scholar. His understanding of the literatures and languages of other cultures lends to his work that thing so often missing in contemporary poetry--substance. His poems are informed by his studies in German, French, Hungarian, and Middle-Eastern literature.

Ormsby is a wonderful addition to the ranks of major poets. Buy this book. It's the best collection of poetry I've read this year.

I read and loved the the eponymous titled poem years ago in the New Yorker. My sister made me a calligraphy copy of it for my wall. (This was in 1993 I think...) So when this collection came out I bought it. I have been reading this a little bit at a time, and am pleased with it. I also looked Ornsby up online and read a bit about his background. It added to my interest.