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vanjr's review against another edition
3.0
I read this book for two reasons. First the author is related to my wife and I have heard about him at family reunions. Secondly I am about as ignorant of poetry as anyone, despite significant education.
I understood very little of the middle of the book, but gathered some knowledge of this eclectic writer from the beginning and the end. I did learn a tiny bit about poetry and less about Modernism in poetry. The book also was a nice expansion of my vocabulary-having a copy of Oxford English Dictionary on my table was a real plus.
I understood very little of the middle of the book, but gathered some knowledge of this eclectic writer from the beginning and the end. I did learn a tiny bit about poetry and less about Modernism in poetry. The book also was a nice expansion of my vocabulary-having a copy of Oxford English Dictionary on my table was a real plus.
patrickkanouse's review against another edition
4.0
Very good book of criticism. Wiman is particularly strong on the subject of the creative process.
toniapeckover's review against another edition
2.0
I loved Wiman's essays here, and as always, his transparent wrestling with faith and religion. But the book is filled with criticism and review of poets and poetic forms I am not overly familiar with and it did become something of a slog for me. There's no obscuring Wiman's incisive intelligence and since the essays move through time, it's interesting to see his personal development (ouch, early Wiman is harsh!) I finally gave myself permission to skim some of the poetry critiques. Maybe I'll go back to them when I've taken a deeper dive into some of the poetry.
livingpalm1's review against another edition
4.0
Continuing my education on Christian Wiman. I need to own this book so I can re-visit it. Very, very good.
benthomas's review
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
5.0
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