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Unread 01-17-2022, 02:05 PM
W T Clark W T Clark is offline
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Default The Lectures of Geoffrey Hill

I discovered these when I was about sixteen or so. They have taught me so much about poetry, about good poetry, about style and craft and our own century's short-comings, I hold them up somewhat as my critical compass. Yet, they get very little mentions. Beyond all the self-congratulatory poetry podcasts these stand -- an ore of genius insufficiently mined. I hope some of you will take the time to try them out.

https://www.english.ox.ac.uk/profess...-hill-lectures

He can also be quite hilarious ("In the immortal words of Charlie Brooker: Go away!" is how he ends his final lecture) and there is no one who reads poems like he does, with a kind of savage, gripping eloquence.

Last edited by W T Clark; 01-18-2022 at 03:40 AM.
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Unread 01-17-2022, 04:27 PM
Orwn Acra Orwn Acra is offline
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Thanks. I am listening now. I read Mercian Hymns endlessly, but can't warm to the rest of his work.
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Unread 01-17-2022, 09:52 PM
Andrew Frisardi Andrew Frisardi is offline
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I attended Hill's course on the WWI poets at Boston University and two of his poetry readings. He's not a poet who does much for me but I will give it another go and will dip into these lectures. Thanks for the link.
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Unread 01-18-2022, 01:13 AM
Mark Blaeuer Mark Blaeuer is offline
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I've bookmarked the link and intend to listen! I've always been drawn to Hill's poetry. Looking back just now at my copy of his New and Collected Poems (1994), I see that I felt sufficiently moved at one time to jot notes in the margins of a dozen or so pages. Too bad I can't always decipher my own handwriting.
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Unread 01-22-2022, 01:26 PM
W T Clark W T Clark is offline
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Thanks, everyone. This thread's become a bit occluded, hopefully others can see it and discover Hill's lectures. The best pieces of literary criticism this century's produced.
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Unread 01-24-2022, 12:56 PM
David Callin David Callin is offline
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I agree that the Mercian Hymns are great, but I really like The Mystery of the Charity of Charles Péguy too. And more, that I can't quite bring to mind at the moment. (There is a terrific poem about the Battle of Towton.)
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