King Log

by Geoffrey Hill

"A small collection, it nevertheless serves as an excellent introduction to the poet, showing many of his concerns and much of his talent in poems that are concise and lyrical. --Beginning with the important Ovid in the Third Reich, Hill's interests here include the horrors of the Third Reich, but also look farther back in history, using the examples of the fates of numerous poets in several of the poems." (The Complete Review).

Genres: Poetry

72 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1968

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Sir Geoffrey William Hill was an English poet and professor emeritus of English literature and religion.

Reviews

[Donald · Rating 5 out of 5]

Apparently I read this back in 2008 (see my stupid review below) but didn't remember reading it. I disagree with everything I wrote then. King Log is brilliant.

--

I made the "mistake" of reading this collection after I'd read his long poem, The Mystery of the Charity of Charles Péguy. These poems are not nearly as good. He learned a lot in the intervening fifteen years.

Now, compared with most poetry collections published since 1960, King Log is good. And even when it's not good, at least it's serious and about things other than Hill's feelings and identity.

The only section I loved was "The Songbook of Sebastian Arrurruz," but perhaps I'll like the other poems more whenever I reread this.

The Charles Péguy poem convinced me I should read every poem Hill ever wrote (even Speech! Speech!, which looks truly terrible). I'm curious to read For the Unfallen, his first book, because the opening poem (aptly titled "Genesis") is much better than anything in this collection, even the Arrurruz sequence.

In conclusion, read some dang poetry, people!!!

[Uther Pendragon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Geoffrey Hill was a master poet who wrote wonderful, skillful, beautiful poetry. The poems in this book are no exception: they are thoughtful, well crafted, always excellent.

His poetry is not for everyone. Some people don't like his subject matter. Some people find him too difficult. But if you like his work and you like poetry, he won't disappoint you.

There is a religious theme in most of his work, so when he departs from the overtly religious it makes those poems even more powerful than they otherwise would've been. This book has some of these departures.

From Poetry Foundation:

"Known as one of the greatest poets of his generation writing in English, and one of the most important poets of the 20th century, Geoffrey Hill lived a life dedicated to poetry and scholarship, morality and faith."

[Rob Jacobs · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very original