Hadean Eclogues

Until I read this book, I did not care for contemporary rhyming poetry. I thought it had had its time and place, ending, for the most part, with the Romantics, though some, like Wallace Stevens (when he did it) and Robert Frost did remind us that occasionally rhyming poetry could still have something to say. I now add Frederick Turner to that list. He has brought from the past the very best of Romanticism's (and various other past movements' in poetry) contributions to poetry and made them contemporary. Reading Turner's poems for the first time, I was amazed at how much I loved them. They move a person in a way that people have not been moved by poetry in decades, at least. We feel as though this poetry indeed does touch us, that we can related to it, and yet discover so much more about ourselves and the world that was hidden before Turner uncovered them for us. These are poems that everyone should read, for they will remind us that the world is indeed a beautiful place to live and to uncover the small personal truths that make the world interesting and our lives worth living.

Readers of Hadean Eclogues will be drawn into the descriptions of the world and of human nature with great ease. Turner writes elegant poetry, which consistently reveals his attention to details in the environment. Each poem is carefully crafted to highlight the best means of expressing his ideas, making the merger of form and content seamless, and each poem clear. Writing , as he does about the lived world, Turner engages the reader in speculation about such questions as what is beauty? where is it to be found? , and what are the parameters of human experience and intellect? Turner's vision of the world is reminiscent of Blakes's and Shelley's , which when combined with the eyes of Wordsworth and Coleridge, yield beautiful poetry by a modern master.