Incantata is a longer piece on a lost love, written In memory of Mary Farl Powers . Muldoon is able to show off his linguistic talents to good advantage in this touching recounting of the love between the two. Very Irish, with references familiar and obscure, it is still more straightforward than much of Muldoon's other poetry. An excellent piece. The long Yarrow is a poem of Muldoon's past, his coming of age and his coming of age as a poet.
Short scenes follow in rapid sequence, from schoolboy memories to literary influences.
An intriguing sequence, it offers a fair amount of information about Muldoon and specifically his literary roots. Muldoon's playful, often allusive style is not to everyone's taste. In this collection he is successful in allowing the poems to be relative accessible even to those defeated by the allusions. A good, interesting collection, and certainly a useful introduction to his work. See the complete review 's Paul Muldoon page Paul Muldoon site at the University of Leipzig.