The Antioch Review – Winter 2004

Judith Hall, the influential poetry editor of this esteemed literary journal, should be congratulated for producing one of the best issues of “The Antioch Review” that I’ve read in a long time. This special all-poetry issue, subtitled “What to Read, What to Praise,” contains, contrary to what you might believe from the cover, more than just poetry.

Judith Hall, the influential poetry editor of this esteemed literary journal, should be congratulated for producing one of the best issues of “The Antioch Review” that I’ve read in a long time. This special all-poetry issue, subtitled “What to Read, What to Praise,” contains, contrary to what you might believe from the cover, more than just poetry. It does have quite a few poems, but also quite a few essays and interview/panels on poetry and poetics, including lively discussions of the work of contemporary poets Frank Bidart, Charles Simic and Eavan Boland. It was nice to rediscover my passion for Ovid after reading Jennifer Clarvoe’s “Vivamus, Vivamus: Living with Ovid’s Amores,” and I was fascinated by Andrew Zawacki’s essay, “‘The Break is Not a Break’: Kierkegaard, Heidegger and Poesis as Abiding Love.” The poetry in this issue, such as David Lehman’s “The James Brothers,” which imagines conversations between Henry James and Jesse James, merits, as the subtitle indicates, both reading and praise. [The Antioch Review, Antioch University, 150 E. South Chicago St., Yellow Springs, Ohio 45387. Single issue $8. www.Antioch.edu/review] – JHG