This eloquent and perceptive collection of previously published articles by Hall, a poet (The One Day) and essayist (Life Work), is a joy to read. Not surprisingly, he is at his most incisive when writing about poets and their craft. In "Long Robinson," he muses on the masterful style of Edwin Arlington Robinson and argues convincingly for his restoration to a major place in American poetry. Hall's love of words?"I take sentences apart and put them together again"?informs his critical tributes to historian Henry Adams and poet James Wright. A sports buff, he also pays homage to basketball great Bob Cousy and baseball's Carlton Fisk. An afterword describes Hall's struggles to write effective prose and comments on the creative relationship between essays and poetry.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Library Journal
Hall, prose writer (Life Work, LJ 10/15/93) and poet (Museum of Clear Ideas, LJ 2/1/93) for more than 40 years, has gathered two dozen new or previously uncollected essays in this compilation. Well known for his nostalgic essays on sports, Hall will delight his fans with several pieces here on baseball and basketball, their former players, and their lasting attractions. In his lamentation on the lost art of reciting and reading aloud, from which the title is drawn, Hall encourages readers to "connect words with the noises they make in their mouths." His poetic prose is reason enough to follow his advice. Whether arguing eloquently for support of the arts, describing the "continuous party" of the country store, or recounting a day in the creative life of Henry Moore, Hall's words touch our minds and our senses. Essays such as Hall's are treasures to cherish.
Cathy Sabol, Northern Virginia Community Coll., Manassas
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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