House of Days: Poems

by Jay Parini

In House of Days, his fourth collection of poems, Jay Parini moves beyond his earlier work to address the environmental and spiritual crises that afflict us in the late twentieth century. In all, House of Days represents a major development in the richly varied career of this hugely accomplished poet, novelist, and biographer.

Genres: Poetry, Literature

96 pages, Paperback

First published April 15, 1998

About the author

Jay Parini (born 1948) is an American writer and academic. He is known for novels and poetry, biography and criticism.

Reviews

[Dustin Pickering]

I felt this book was thoughtful and unique. At first glance, the poems are common and basic, but a subtlty and heart encompasses them that is rare in contemporary poetry.

Parini is a scholar of literature and is a serious thinker on theological matters, and he isn't shy to put his own stamp in what he finds. "House of Days" sounds almost Hebraic-- yet it is a commonplace simplicity that is embraced, the mind's memories and the poet's growth into himself. We all live in a house of days, and its our own.

I first read of Parini in "Why Poetry Matters" and heard his name again while skimming the Internet. He is an honest thinker, a man of eminence in letters, and this books strikes me as being outside of the modern chasms of poetry. There are poets who stretch outside of performance and social activism for its own sake, usually learned and thoughtful poets. So much of contemporary life is dry and monotonous, and these poems remind their readers just how miraculous life is.

[Lisa]

House of Days: Poems by Jay Parini (1998)