A Treatise of Civil Power - Softcover

Hill, Professor Of Poetry Geoffrey

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0300131496 ISBN 13: 9780300131499

Publisher: Yale University Press, 2008

Synopsis

A major gathering of new work by one of the greatest poets of the English language

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.

About this title

Review:

Praise for Geoffrey Hill:

'Hill so entirely eclipses most of his contemporaries that it seems meaningless to rank him in relation to them. Trumpets should be blown, garlands made . . . his greatness is as certain as the poets he invokes' Daily Telegraph

'Hill is often and rightly said to be the greatest living English poet . . . [He] can write lines with a deep gravelly ring to them which could only come from powerful thinking about the English language and its inner energies. He can describe England with a warm depth that no other living poet can match . . . brilliant writing' Guardian

About the Author:

Born in Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, in 1932, Geoffrey Hill is the author of three books of criticism and twelve books of poetry, including The Triumph of Love, co-winner of the Heinemann Award. His previous collection, Without Title, is published by Yale University Press.

About this edition

• Publisher: Yale University Press
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 0300131496
• ISBN 13: 9780300131499
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 64