Many of the poems in Sean O Brien s new collection take their emotional tenor and imaginative cue from his acclaimed translation of "Dante s Inferno," and occupy a dark, flooded, subterranean world, as dramatically compelling as it is disquieting. Circumstances have compelled O Brien to return repeatedly to the elegiac form, and "The Drowned Book" contains a number of powerfully moving poems written in memory of fellow poets and artists. "The Drowned Book" again shows O Brien as master of the authoritative line, and underscores his pre-eminence among contemporary English poets."