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the complete review - poetry

For the Unfallen

by
Geoffrey Hill

general information | review summaries | our review | links | about the author

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Our Assessment:

B- : often solid, these poems are marked by a poet trying to find his voice

See our review for fuller assessment.

Please refer to reviews for New and Collected Poems.

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The complete review's Review:

       This early collection provides a wealth and variety of poetry. Hill here is still seeking out his voice, and only occasionally does his now distinctive talent rise through. More conventional in style and often subject matter these are generally fine if unexceptional poems. What is missing, and what one marvels at in Hill's later work, is his daring. Too formal, he only rarely breaks free here, and his language is also not as sledge-hammer precise as in his later work.
       It is an interesting but not a necessary collection. Recommended for those who prefer their poetry less challenging and still want to say they have read Geoffrey Hill. Otherwise -- stick to the later writings!

       N O T E : this collection is included in Hill's New and Collected Poems, 1952-1992 and we recommend that you get this more comprehensive collection.

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Links:

• See general reviews regarding New and Collected Poems

• The complete review's Geoffrey Hill page.
• Geoffrey Hill at the Poetry Foundation
• Profile in The Guardian

• The Book of Baruch by the Gnostic Justin
• Canaan
• King Log
• Mercian Hymns
• The Mystery of the Charity of Charles Péguy
• New and Collected Poems
• The Orchards of Syon
• Speech ! Speech !
• Style and Faith
• Tenebrae
• A Treatise of Civil Power
• The Triumph of Love
• Without Title

• See also the index of Poetry under review

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About the Author:

       English poet Geoffrey Hill was born in 1932. A graduate of Keble College, Oxford, he has taught at the University of Leeds, at Cambridge, and at Boston University.

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