The Annals of Chile - Paperback

by Paul Muldoon (Author)

Winner of the T.S. Eliot Prize, The Annals of Chile confirms Paul Muldoon's stature as one of the most talented poets of his generation. The heart of the book is the long poem Yarrow, in which Muldoon's powers of insight and wordplay and surprising association are on exuberant display: evoking the 1960s, the poet conjures up a boundless historical present peopled at once by Davy Crockett and Tristan Tzara and Wild Bill Hickok, by Maud Gonne and Michael Jackson, all bought swifly and vividly to life by his fantastical imagination. The collection also contains a group of shorter poems, including The Birth, a delicate lyric which celebrates the arrival of a baby girl; Incantata, a deeply felt elegy to a former lover; a Muldoon's inspired adaptation of an episode from Ovid's Metamorphoses.

Back Jacket

The Annals of Chile, Paul Muldoon's first book of new poetry since the acclaimed Madoc: A Mystery (1991), confirms the widely held view that he is the most talented poet of his generation. The heart of the book is the long poem "Yarrow", in which all Muldoon's powers of insight and wordplay and surprising association are on exuberant display. Evoking the 1960s, the poet conjures up a boundless historical present peopled at once by Davy Crockett and Tristan Tzara and Wild Bill Hickok, by Maud Gonne and Michael Jackson, all brought swiftly and vividly to life by his fantastical imagination. The book also contains a group of shorter poems, including "The Birth", a delicate lyric which celebrates the arrival of a baby daughter; "Incantata", a powerful elegy to a former lover; and Muldoon's inspired adaptation of an episode from Ovid's Metamorphoses. Art, Muldoon writes, "builds from pain, from misery, from a deep-seated hurt / a monument to the human heart"; and here, out of strong emotion, in memorable language, Muldoon has once again fashioned rich and vital poetry.

Author Biography

Paul Muldoon was born in 1951 in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. He lives and teaches in Princeton, New Jersey. Better known for his poetry, his works include Poems 1968-1998, Hay and Moy Sand and Gravel.