Selected Poems

"Is Hill the greatest living English poet? Many critics (including Harold Bloom) have said as much, since the 1970s, when a few dense books inspired transatlantic admiration. After four decades with just five books, the past 10 years have seen Hill offer six more, including a trio of long works some liken to Dante and Blake. This first selected since 1994 (and first since his move to Yale as his U.S. publisher) should get instant critical attention (and sustained academic adoption) even though it contains no new work. Here, entire, is Mercian Hymns, with its gorgeously medievalized evocation of a rural English upbringing. Here, complete, are all three recent long poems, with their erudite mix of elegy and jeremiad: 'Age of mass consent: go global with her,' Hill admonishes himself in 'Speech! Speech!' 'Challenge satellite failure, the primal/ violent day-star moody as Herod./ Forget nothing. Reprieve no one.' Here are his late intimations of mortality: 'Last days, last things, loom on: I write/ to astonish myself.' Here, too, are the descriptive beauties that sparkle through even Hill's most rebarbative works: in a rural lane, 'the mass-produced wax berries, and perhaps/ an unearthed wasps' nest like a paper skull,/ where fragile cauls of cobweb start to shine.'" Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

Geoffrey Hill's poetry comprises one of the most uncompromising and visionary bodies of work written over the last fifty years. Imbued with the weight of history, morality, and language, his work reveals a deeply religious sensibility, a towering intellect, and an emotional complexity that are unrivaled in contemporary letters. Now, for the first time ever, readers can observe in one volume how Hill's style took shape over time. This generous selection spans his career, beginning with poems from Hill's astonishing debut, "For the Unfallen," and following through to his stylistically distinct and critically acclaimed work "Without Title," Including some of the poet's strongest, most sensitive, and most brilliant pieces, this collection will reaffirm Hill's reputation as "England's best hope for the Nobel Prize."

Geoffrey Hills poetry comprises one of the most uncompromising and visionary bodies of work written over the last fifty years. Imbued with the weight of history, morality, and language, his work reveals a deeply religious sensibility, a towering intellect, and an emotional complexity that are unrivaled in contemporary letters. Now, for the first time ever, readers can observe in one volume how Hills style took shape over time. This generous selection spans his career, beginning with poems from Hills astonishing debut, For the Unfallen, and following through to his stylistically distinct and critically acclaimed work Without Title. Including some of the poets strongest, most sensitive, and most brilliant pieces, this collection will reaffirm Hills reputation as “Englands best hope for the Nobel Prize.”