Glass, Irony and God

By Anne Carson

Book Overview

Known as a remarkable classicist, Anne Carson weaves contemporary and ancient poetic strands with stunning style in Glass, Irony and God. This collection includes: "The Glass Essay," a powerful poem about the end of a love affair, told in the context of Carson's reading of the Bront sisters; "Book of Isaiah," a poem evoking the deeply primitive feel of ancient Judaism; and "The Fall of Rome," about her trip to "find" Rome and her struggle to overcome feelings of a terrible alienation there.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0811213021
• ISBN13: 9780811213028
• Release Date: November 1995
• Publisher: New Directions Publishing Corporation
• Length: 142 Pages
• Weight: 0.42 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.2" x 7.9"

Customer Reviews

Makes Me Think of

Dickinson, if she had crossed the street.

worth is for the first essay alone

What makes this book worth it is the very first essay in the collection, The Glass Essay, a work that is written in verse and that is tinged with the kind of mix of immagination and scholarship that has made Carson's work so popular. By far, however, this is one of her best works. Certainly better than the journeys she has made into poetry exclusively recently. Read this essay before any of her other work and you will have an excellent primer for this evocative writer!

Innovative form

This book contains one traditional essay, a fascinating study of language and gender (classical Greece to Freud), and five poems which blur the line between essay and poetry. The net result is the exploration of very complex thoughts in a very readable form - a form that hides the complexity behind very concrete, common life images.In "The Glass Essay" grief over a lost relationship, the relationship between the Bronte sisters, the relationship between mother-daughter, and the writings of Emily Bronte are explored in a seamless manner."The Truth About God" is a search for the meaning of God in our era. The opening stanza sets the tone for the exploration: "My religion makes no sense / and does not help me / therefore I pursue it." It draws from Beethoven's life, from Teresa of Avila, from the apophatic theology ..."TV men" mixes Greek heroes and Gods with filming - meet Hector and Socrates in a new environment. "The Fall of Rome: A Traveller's Guide" explores personal relationships (or lack thereof) when language becomes a barrier not a bridge. "Book of Isaiah" explores the mindset behind the Biblical text of Isaiah.The strength of this book is that the vast knowledge behind the writing is made accessible to the reader rather than being required of the reader. This is a book that makes the reader want to read more of the author's work.

Sui Generis

"The Glass Essay," the long poem sequence that begins "Glass, Irony and God" is a great poem: lost love, moms, Emily Bronte are its main topics; an ambitious, one-of-a-kind poem from an ambitious, one-of-a-kind writer.