
Beltane at Aphelion
Longer Poems
John Matthias(Author)
Swallow Press
Will be published approx. on 1. June 1995
Book
Hardback
256 pages
978-0-8040-0983-6 (ISBN)
Description
Beltane at Aphelion collects all of John Matthias's longer poems and is published simultaneously with Swimming at Midnight, which collects his shorter poems. The volume includes his exuberant experiments from the 1960s, Poem in Three Parts and Bucyrus, followed by The Stefan Bathory & Mihail Lermontov Poems, his comedic diptych from the 1970s set on a Polish and a Russian ocean liner, and by Northern Summer, his meditation on history and language set in Scotland. It concludes with the three long poems first published in A Gathering of Ways which explore ancient paths and river routes in the East Anglian region of Britain and the American Midwest, and, in the most ambitious poem he has yet written, the famous pilgrim trails to Santiago de Compostela in Spain. About the books in which these poems originally appeared, critics and poets have written with enthusiasm.
Reviews / Votes
"American poet Matthias's forte is the long poem: ranging from 18-24 pages, these provide ample room for his experiments with language, that sometimes start off with quotes from obscure texts. ... In the short form, Matthias shines in autobiographical poems, such as those in the 'After Years Away' sequence." (Publisher's Weekly)More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Ohio
United States
Publishing group
Ohio University Press
Target group
College/higher education
Product notice
Paper over boards
Dimensions
Height: 235 mm
Width: 159 mm
ISBN-13
978-0-8040-0983-6 (9780804009836)
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Schweitzer Classification
Person
John Matthias is the author of seven previous volumes of poetry. He teaches at Notre Dame University.