1 option
The darkness and the light : poems / Anthony Hecht.
Van Pelt Library PS3558.E28 D37 2001
Available
- Format:
- Book
- Author/Creator:
- Hecht, Anthony, 1923-2004.
- Language:
- English
- Physical Description:
- 67 pages ; 22 cm
- Edition:
- First edition.
- Place of Publication:
- New York : A.A. Knopf, 2001.
- Summary:
- An exquisite book in which a series of poems about biblical characters -- "Samson", "Saul and David", "Judith", and so on -- provides the backdrop for other reflections on both the beauty and the darkness in contemporary life. We see ourselves in fresh light as Hecht illuminates the simililarites between our own age and the biblical world, and finds postmodern sadness in stories like that of Miriam, who announces in her poem, "I had a nice voice once, and a large following./I was, you might say, a star". The centerpiece of the volume is the stunning "Sacrifice", a three-part poem that connects the story of Abraham and Isaac to an arresting Second World War scene unfolding in provincial occupied France in 1945.
- Throughout, there is a poignant sense of life lived and catalogued by a mature sensibility. As Hecht writes with clear-eyed grace in "Sarabande on Attaining the Age of Seventy-Seven",
- Contents:
- Late Afternoon: The Onslaught of Love 3
- Circles 5
- Memory 7
- Mirror 8
- Samson 10
- An Orphic Calling 11
- Rara Avis in Terris 13
- A Fall 15
- Haman 17
- A Certain Slant 18
- A Brief Account of Our City 19
- Saul and David 22
- Despair 24
- The Hanging Gardens of Tyburn 25
- Judith 26
- Illumination 27
- Look Deep 28
- Nocturne: A Recurring Dream 30
- Lot's Wife 31
- Public Gardens 32
- Sacrifice 33
- The Witch of Endor 39
- Indolence 40
- The Ashen Light of Dawn (Baudelaire) 41
- The Plastic and the Poetic Form (Goethe) 43
- The Bequest (Vaillant) 44
- Once More, with Feeling (Charles d'Orleans) 45
- Le Jet d'Eau (Baudelaire) 46
- Taking Charge (Charles d'Orleans) 48
- A Symposium (Horace) 49
- A Special Occasion (Horace) 50
- A Prayer to Twin Divinities (Horace) 51
- Miriam 52
- Witness 53
- Lapidary Inscription with Explanatory Note 54
- Long-Distance Vision 55
- Secrets 57
- Poppy 58
- The Ceremony of Innocence 59
- The Road to Damascus 60
- Elders 61
- Sarabande on Attaining the Age of Seventy-seven 63
- I.M.E.M. 64
- "The Darkness and the Light Are Both Alike to Thee" 65.
- Notes:
- Errata slip inserted.
- Includes bibliographical references.
- ISBN:
- 0375411941
- 0375709460
- OCLC:
- 44769109
The Penn Libraries is committed to describing library materials using current, accurate, and responsible language. If you discover outdated or inaccurate language, please fill out this feedback form to report it and suggest alternative language.