tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16166950.post2940722057749992313..comments2024-01-23T18:21:17.066+00:00Comments on Surroundings: 26. Night Train / Litany - Michael HofmannRobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17046788730174617923noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16166950.post-79843272467841062382008-07-01T21:23:00.000+01:002008-07-01T21:23:00.000+01:00Yes, knowing all that certainly puts a different s...Yes, knowing all that certainly puts a different slant on the phrase I quoted - the "not joking..." There's no way of getting the full story from the poem though, although I did feel when reading it that I was missing a key to the door of the poem. <BR/><BR/>Hofmann's melancholy is nearly always accompanied by humour - it's a feature of his work. His ability to balance negative and positive emotions, celebratory and bleak humour, is what often makes his work so powerful.Robhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17046788730174617923noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16166950.post-32317241301224492682008-07-01T18:59:00.000+01:002008-07-01T18:59:00.000+01:00When this book came out, Michael Hulse wrote an in...When this book came out, Michael Hulse wrote an interesting review in PR, asking whether a reviewer who knew the circumstances (poet leaves his partner and mother of his children for another poet), as most poetry people did, should review the book with that knowledge in mind or not - still an interesting question. <BR/><BR/>I think the idea of the Lowellian has been overplayed with MH - there is more subject matter than style in common.<BR/><BR/>I see Night Train as being at least as celebratory and humorous as it is regretful and doomed.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com