Synopses & Reviews
Review
"Hecht, as a poet himself, is perhaps more acutely conscious than most of the difficulty in making critical sense of a poet's work. His own method in this study is one of probing diffidence, curious yet modest explorations of themes and images running through Auden's verse. The result, however, is far from slight; The Hidden Law is fascinating throughout, as tireless in its scrutiny as it is generous in its celebration of one of this century's most engaging and humane lyrical voices." Reviewed by Daniel Weiss, Virginia Quarterly Review (Copyright 2006 Virginia Quarterly Review)
Review
"This is a book about poetry, about a poet who was dedicated to the art like few others of our time, whose poetic technique only another poet as gifted as Hecht could gloss...The richness of reference in this book to history, prosody, theology, poetry, punctuation, makes for a long swim in the heady liquor of poetry--not only Auden's poetry but that of the hundreds of authors whom Auden read...It is a pleasure to read."
--Peter Davison, Atlantic"I know of no other instance of a poet of comparable mastery of his art and his experience taking up in such loving detail the work of a predecessor (and near contemporary)."
--Richard Howard, Washington Post Book World"The Hidden Law's dispassionate critical voice unfolds a powerful meditation on the vicissitudes of the poetic life...It is at its most significant level a narrative of Anthony Hecht's emergence as a poet, and for all that the book tells us by implication, it takes its place alongside MacNeice's Yeats and Berryman's Crane."
--Nicholas Jenkins, Times Literary Supplement"A work of the most keen-sighted love for the most keen-sighted poet of our century."
--Joseph Brodsky