A comment from the blogkeeper at Underbelly (thank you Buce) inspired me to look this up. I was fairly certain that I had reviewed the book in the recent past, and so I discovered this. a good book is worth appreciation--over and over and over again. Also, while you are appreciating, you might want to take in Underbelly's look at Helena as well. La Belle Hélène on March 18, 2005 8:11 AM In reading Helena last night I stumbled across a large number of passages I would like to share. But I thought the more important thing to share was an observation. Evelyn Waugh liked this best among his books. There are a good many reasons why this might be so: it is splendidly written--both the prose and the coherence are several notches above some of his earlier, more frenetic work. It is tightly done, with just the right strokes and exactly the right selection of detail. But I suspect the reason Waugh prized this above all the other works is that in t...
I am as grateful for your enjoyment as I am undeserving of the comparison. :)
ReplyDeleteJeff,
ReplyDeleteI recognize that it was a rather high-flown comparison, but using language and image like that recalls no one more recent. The poems are archaic in the very best sense of that term--not outmoded, but classic--going back to the best in the tradition of English poetry.
In short, I like them a lot and they take a fine ear and sensibility to compose. I'm a sucker for anything that smacks of a more formal approach.
shalom,
Steven