Longlisted for the 2014 National Book Award Never has there been a book of poems quite like Gabriel, in which a short life, a bewildering death, and the unanswerable sorrow of a father come together in such a sustained elegy. This unabashed sequence speaks directly from Hirsch s heart to our own, without sentimentality. From its opening lines The funeral director opened the coffin / And there he was alone / From the waist up Hirsch s account is poignantly direct and open to the strange vicissitudes and tricks of grief. In propulsive three-line stanzas, he tells the story of how a once...
Longlisted for the 2014 National Book Award Never has there been a book of poems quite like Gabriel, in which a short life, a bewildering death, a...
"An instant classic that belongs on the bookshelf of every serious poet and literature student."--Washington Post
A Poet's Glossary was an extraordinary achievement, a definitive source for poets and poetry lovers alike. Now, The Essential Poet's Glossary gleans the very best from that extraordinary volume.
Edward Hirsch's sparkling new work compiles poetic terms spanning centuries and continents, including forms, devices, movements, aesthetics, rhetorical terms, and folklore. Knowing how a poem works is crucial to unlocking its...
"An instant classic that belongs on the bookshelf of every serious poet and literature student."--Washington Post