A Treatise of Civil Power [Paperback]

Prof. Geoffrey Hill (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 7, 2008

Geoffrey Hill’s latest collection takes its title from a pamphlet by Milton of 1659 that attacks the concept of a state church as well as corruption in church governance. As Milton figures prominently here, so too must the Lord Protector, Cromwell, addressed in a memorable sonnet sequence. Also considered by Hill are other poets to whom he nods in gratitude, not just Milton and “my god” Ben Jonson, or Robert Herrick, or William Blake, but also Robert Lowell and, perhaps most interestingly, John Berryman, whose Dream Songs haunts this present collection.

Here we again confront the poet’s familiar obsessions—language, governance, war, politics, the contemporary and classical worlds, and the nature of poetry itself. John Hollander writes of Hill’s poems that they immerse themselves “in the matters of stones and rock, of permanence and historical change, martyrdoms and mockeries, and above all history and the monuments and residua of its consequences in places, things, and persons.” A Treatise of Civil Power is the work of a major poet at the height of his powers.

 

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Angry and learned, Hill's seventh book of new poems in 10 years should delight his admirers; its self-contained pentameter stanzas, surprisingly friendly tone and gemlike images also make it the best way into the late work of this poet whom critics such as Harold Bloom have placed in the lineage of Milton and Blake. Hill's obsessions include the martyrs and poets of the English Renaissance, representations of classical music in poetry and his own advancing age, about which his new poems carry sad jokes. People keep asking why your lyric mojo/ atrophied at around ninety, the poet (in truth, aged 75) complains, then adds, invention reinvents itself/ every so often in the line of death. Elsewhere he writes about rereading famous works of literary criticism, and memorializes dead friends in fine elegies. In this book, Hill succeeds in mixing personal sentiment with grave pronouncements about morality and history. There's an unfinished psalm doing the rounds/ in the vicinity of my skull, one sequence declares; in one of the book's multitudinous layers of meaning, Hill may, or may not, be speaking in the voice of the English conqueror Oliver Cromwell, whose military government had fallen apart when Milton wrote the polemic from which Hill's book takes its name. (Jan.)
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Review

"One can''t help warming to Geoffrey Hill, a crusty curmudgeon of mind-boggling erudition. . . . A superb companion to his collected essays."—Diann Blakely, The Tennessean

(The Tennessean )

“Brilliant.”
—The New Republic

(The New Republic ) --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 64 pages
• Publisher: Yale University Press (January 7, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0300131496
• ISBN-13: 978-0300131499
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.3 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,576,630 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Gotta love the title, June 12, 2008

By 

Sarang Gopalakrishnan (Urbana, IL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Treatise of Civil Power (Paperback)

Geoffrey Hill's characteristic attitude towards things, a sort of disarming grumpiness, is less evident in this volume than in the previous few. The book is still somewhat daunting, and much of it is both obscure (e.g. the reader is invited to overhear Hill talking to himself about Burke) and rhythmically inert. But there are several good poems. My favorites are the poems about Wyatt, and the beautiful one about Ben Jonson's "Masques" (note: if you don't recognize these names, you probably shouldn't waste your time on this book) --

"I see Inigo Jones's great arches
in my mind's eye, his water-inky clouds,
the paraphernalia of a royal masque;
dung and detritus in the crazy streets,
the big coaches bellying in their skirts
pothole to pothole, and the men of fire,
the link-boys slouching and the rainy wind."

Another poem I like is "Coda," which begins like this --

"Shredded--my kite--in the myriad-snagged
crabapple crown, the cane cross-piece flailing;
a dark wind visible even deep in the hedge.
I knew then how much my eros
was emptiness, thorn-fixed on desolation,"

And then there's this memorable and much-quoted bit from the "title poem" ("A Precis, or Memorandum, of C.P.") --

"The watered gold that February drains
out of the overcast...
the snowdrop fettled on its hinge, waxwings
becoming sportif in the grimy air."

I could go on excerpting the good bits -- which are not entirely unrepresentative; if you're patient and reasonably interested in English history, this book is worth your time. If not, Hill has written books that are _primarily_ about other things, which you might prefer ("The Triumph of Love" about WW2, "Mercian Hymns" about the Anglo-Saxons, "The Mystery of the Charity of Charles Peguy" about Charles Peguy, etc.).

Also, Hill's early poems -- up through "Tenebrae" (1978) -- are significantly more inviting than his later ones. If you haven't read those, you should, especially "Mercian Hymns."