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the complete review - poetry

Supernatural Love

by
Gjertrud Schnackenberg

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

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Our Assessment:

B+ : a talented poet, interesting pieces

See our review for fuller assessment.

  Review Consensus:

  An important poet

  From the Reviews:

• "Her poems wrestle with moral failure not in the light of philosophy but in the darkness after it." - William Logan, The New Criterion
  
  
• "(M)uch of her best work, even in the poems that most obviously manifest such width and perspective, is in the exquisite accuracy with which she beholds details, as if the bright child did her true apprenticeship not in the beam of the study lamp, but in the glow of the dollhouse windows." - Glyn Maxwell, The New Republic

Please note that these ratings solely represent the complete review's biased interpretation and subjective opinion of the actual reviews and do not claim to accurately reflect or represent the views of the reviewers. Similarly the illustrative quotes chosen here are merely those the complete review subjectively believes represent the tenor and judgment of the review as a whole. We acknowledge (and remind and warn you) that they may, in fact, be entirely unrepresentative of the actual reviews by any other measure.

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The complete review's Review:

       Supernatural Love includes practically all of Gjertrud Schnackenberg's poetry (the British edition more than the American one) -- see our reviews of the collections included here, Portraits and Elegies, The Lamplit Answer, A Gilded Lapse of Time (and The Throne of Labdacus).
       There's not that much bulk to it -- the American edition has only 261 pages, with much free space throughout, and Schnackenberg's poetry isn't dense in its presentation -- but there is a great deal here. There are few short poems that stand on their own: most of the short poems are parts of longer sequences. Many of the poems are (relatively) long. Schnackenberg likes to explore a subject in some depth, whether memories of her father or the inspiration of the mosaics of Ravenna.
       She is a story-teller, but also a poet of ideas. She revels in allusion and draws inspiration from much learned material (the endnotes are not copious but bespeak a very broad range of humanistic knowledge and interests).
       The poetry is, at least at first glance, approachable. Schnackenberg doesn't look for the obscurest way to express an idea or revel in any sort of technical jargon. She even uses rhyme on occasion. But it's not all as straightforward as it might appear -- approachable, yes, but layered, textured, nuanced.
       The long poems often aren't built up as one might expect -- with a gradual crescendo or a clear progression. Instead, Schnackenberg often circles and circles back, or considers another vantage point. History plays a large role in her poetry, and Schnackenberg is aware of how unreliable history can be, that events can be seen in other ways.
       A few things occasionally jar: the earnest father-obsession, and many of the religion-tainted efforts. But then she can also surprise with her humour (as in, for example, the clever "Sonata").

       Schnackenberg is certainly a poet worth knowing, and Supernatural Love covers most (and in the UK: all) of her poetry to date, so it can certainly be recommended.

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Links:

• Farrar, Straus and Giroux publicity page

• The New Criterion (scroll down for review)
• The New York Times Book Review

• A Gilded Lapse of Time
• Heavenly Questions
• The Lamplit Answer
• Portraits and Elegies
• The Throne of Labdacus

• See Index of Poetry under review

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About the Author:

       American poet Gjertrud Schnackenberg was born in 1953. She has won many awards, fellowships, and grants.

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