Midpoint and Other Poems

by John Updike

In the boldly eclectic title poem of his collection, John Updike employs the meters of Dante, Spenser, Pope, Whitman, and Pound, as well as the pictographic tactics of concrete poetry, to take an inventory of his life at the end of his thirty-fifth year—at midpoint.  These cantos form both a joke on the antique genre of the long poem and an attempt to write an earnest meditation on the mysteries of the ego, lost time, and the mundane.
                The remainder of the volume is a six years’ harvest of light verse and incidental lyrics—poems dealing with love and death, animals and angels, places and persons, dream artifacts and the naked ape.  As a writer of humorous verse Mr. Updike is alone in his generation; to serious poetry he brings the vision and warmth characteristic of his prose.

Genres: Poetry

99 pages, Hardcover

First published April 12, 1969

About the author

John Hoyer Updike was an American writer. Updike's most famous work is his Rabbit series (Rabbit, Run; Rabbit Redux; Rabbit Is Rich; Rabbit At Rest; and Rabbit Remembered). Rabbit is Rich and Rabbit at Rest both won Pulitzer Prizes for Updike. Describing his subject as "the American small town, Protestant middle class," Updike is well known for his careful craftsmanship and prolific writing, having published 22 novels and more than a dozen short story collections as well as poetry, literary criticism and children's books. Hundreds of his stories, reviews, and poems have appeared in The New Yorker since the 1950s. His works often explore sex, faith, and death, and their inter-relationships.

He died of lung cancer at age 76.

Reviews

[Tristan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm not sold on this book. I wanted to like it, and some of the poems were just wonderful( I really liked part I of "Midpoint" ,"Fireworks", and "The Average Egyptian Faces Death"), but most of it just did not do it for me. I thought the sex imagery was mostly unnecessary and overdone, somehow at once explicit and not in the least bit romantic or erotic, nor did it generally add much of anything. I'm torn between two or three stars, but I think my problems outweigh my likes. Some of the light verse was amusing, and a few of the lyrics, especially "The Average Egyptian Faces Death", had some really good things to say. All in all, not a terrible read, and it wasn't very long, but not on the list of my favorite collections of poetry.

[Grady Ormsby · Rating 3 out of 5]

John Updike was a prolific author of poetry, short stories, and novels, as well as being an art and literary critic. I read Midpoint and Other Poems (1969). It is an autobiographical look at the poet’s life up to the age of 35. The 43-page titular poem, “Midpoint,” is the anchor for the volume. It is divided into five parts: an “Introduction” about growing up, “Photographs,” a collection of uncaptioned family shots, “The Dance of the Solids” which is a chemistry lesson sorts, “The Play of Memory,” a free-form scattering of seemingly random references, and “Conclusion” in which the poet “strives to conclude.”

Following are three other sections. The first is a collection of 16 rather dense offerings entitled “Poems.” The second is a collection of 9 “Love Poems.” The last section is entitled “Light Verse” and has 20 poems, some whimsical, some puzzling, a few interesting.

Overall, my reaction is “meh.” Nice try, John, but I much prefer your prose.

[Jack Castillo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Updike can really write seductive poetry. I can't recall the last time if ever I've gotten turned on reading poetry. I don't know a lot about poetry but these prose seemed at once very different from a writer who I consider of the 50's genre. I've read Rabbit, Run, Rabbit, Redux & Rabbit, Rich and I really enjoyed them. I'm struggling with his compilation of short stories. But this poems are clever and entertaining. Midpoint, the opener is long and supposed to be a reflection on his life at 35. Ah; was I ever that young. Short, sweet and entertaining

[Jamespc · Rating 4 out of 5]

Updike’s most experimental collection, a reflection of the self and the creation of the self in the form of a long poem, using photography and its materials as the jumping point for lyric memory, working and reworking to find how the artist has woken up to discover he is at his midpoint of life.

[Brent · Rating 4 out of 5]

Way interesting.

[Bill]

Very fine mature Updike collection. "Fireworks" is memorable.