Figurehead: And Other Poems

By John Hollander

Book Overview

In a major review in The New Republic of John Hollander's two earlier books, Tesserae and Selected Poetry (both 1993), Vernon Shetley said, "John Hollander's poetry has shown a visionary power just... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0375404848
• ISBN13: 9780375404849
• Release Date: March 1999
• Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf
• Length: 89 Pages
• Weight: 0.71 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.6" x 9.6"

Customer Reviews

"Virtuoso at Play"

... John Hollander's poems are both games and masterpieces. In "Figurehead: And Other Poems" the poet rings playful changes on the stories of Sappho, Arachne, Minerva, his mom, and the Duchess of Robert Browning's "My Last Duchess," who tells us, in perfect Browning-style verses, that nobody murdered her. She's very much alive, thank you, and enjoying some peace and quiet in the convent to which she secretly escaped from the "mad fool" of a husband who doubtless, now, pontificates to bored listeners about the quality of her smile in the portrait he had commissioned. She faked that smile, you see, and she's freer behind her walls than the clod she married will ever be anywhere: "at which," she concludes, "I truly smile." Hollander plays with the names of assorted ailments: "quinsy," "whiffles," "glanders," "pip," and "glottis" ("nature disposes," he quips, but "medical science proposes" the names for what nature deals out). In "Variations on a Table" he ponders a poet's writing table, Locke's tabula rasa, the multiplication tables, and a motion tabled at a meeting, then segués to Babel, sable coats, Mabel, and transatlantic cables before "turning the tables" back to the polished surface upon which a writer does his work--each seemingly free association contributing to a cogent essay on language. Hollander's juggling of paradoxes, puns, and demanding forms is more than a literary version of Olympics-level gymnastics. "Figurehead" is virtuoso poetry from a brilliant mind at work.

Figuratively and Literally Re-Readable

Masterful. Visionary. Textured. Resonating. Illuminating. Definitive. Passionate. Cognitive. Reachable. Multi-layered. Meaningful. Empowered. Suggestive. Pacesetting. Expansive. Conversational. Cogent. Persuasive. Rhythmic. Compressed. Creative. Challenging. Fruitful. Generous. Ingenious. Hearty. Mature. Stimulating. Timely. Wise. Inviting. Satisfying.