Robert Pack is one of America’s most eminent nature poets, and his
virtuoso talents are on glorious display in Still Here, Still Now, his
nineteenth volume of verse. With styles ranging from lyric to
narrative, and themes stretching from biblical concerns to meditations
on contemporary science, Pack’s poetry is composed in strongly
rhythmic cadences and a diction that is direct and accessible. In four
different sections of thematically and stylistically divergent verse,
Still Here, Still Now delivers many of the elements of Pack’s poetry
readers have come to admire and expect—both the humorous and the
elegiac. The first section of the book contains traditional lyrics
that celebrate family ties and seek consolations for the passing of
personal and evolutionary time. The poems in this group address a
named or unnamed auditor in a voice of intimate engagement. Featuring
the most narrative selections in the book, the second section consists
of fable-like stories, rich with innuendo and implication. The
characters in these poems make choices that press against the events
and circumstances that challenge and define them. Embodying what
Harold Bloom has called Pack’s “courage to surmount suffering,”
the poems of the third section are largely devoted to biblical themes
and philosophical speculations on the meaning of happiness and the
uses of suffering. Here, Pack’s empathy for the human condition
as well as his forebodings about the prospect of human survival are
on poignant display. The final section of the book turns to Pack's
abiding interest in landscape and the ways in which the place one
inhabits contains and animates our individual lives. Ripe with many
years, Pack remains a vital presence in American letters. Still Here,
Still Now is an affecting and graceful addition to the oeuvre of a
poet whose compelling and distinct voice will continue to resonate
among his loyal readers.
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Produktdetaljer
ISBN
9780226644172
Publisert
2018
Utgave
1. utgave
Utgiver
University of Chicago Press
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Digital bok
Forfatter