description: The Annals of Chile, Paul Muldoon's first book of new poetry since the acclaimed 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.
language: English
title: Annals of Chile
titlecomplete: Annals of Chile
genres: Poetry
ratings_count: 54
awards: awardedAt: 757411200000
name: T.S. Eliot Prize for Poetry
publisher: Faber and Faber Ltd