Darkening Water - by Daniel Hoffman (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

"A major work, a record of our era," wrote Maxine Kumin in awarding the Paterson Poetry Prize to Hang-Gliding from Helicon, Daniel Hoffman's selected poems a dozen years ago. Of Darkening Water, his first collection since then, Fred Chappell observes, "These poems have all the poet's familiar virtues--clarity, grace where desired, accuracy of visual detail and of dialogue, and a formal mastery so deft that playfulness comes easily. Hoffman's dominant theme lies in the contrast (and often the necessary balance) between the primal, ancient, legendary strains of our culture and the new-fangled, distracting but genuine imperatives of contemporaneity. Hoffman uses older forms and traditions to make something new and durable."

The range of Hoffman's sensibility includes the primordial sludge from which life emerged and the coin-filled fountain of a suburban shopping mall, an enduring New England garden and the dancing woman in an ancient cave. His luminous poems create memorable characters, exploring man's relationship to nature and to time. Seemingly effortless juxtapositions create rewarding surprises.

This refined collection by one of our finest poets reverberates with intelligence, close observation, and a deep respect for the possibilities of language. It is a treasure for Hoffman's many longtime readers as well as for those discovering his work for the first time.

About the Author

DANIEL HOFFMAN's nine books of poems include Hang-Gliding from Helicon, winner of the Paterson Poetry Prize; his verse novel, Middens of the Tribe; and Brotherly Love, a finalist for the National Book Award and National Book Critics Circle Award. He served as Consultant in Poetry of the Library of Congress (the appointment now called Poet Laureate of the United States) 1973-1974 and as Poet in Residence of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York 1988-1999, administering the American Poets' Corner. He is Felix E. Schelling Professor of English Emeritus, University of Pennsylvania, and author of a half dozen books in prose, including Poe Poe Poe Poe Poe Poe Poe--another finalist for the National Book Award--and Zone of the Interior: A Memoir, 1942-1947.