Entering History: Poems

Fiction & Literature, Poetry
Cover of the book Entering History: Poems by Mary Stewart Hammond, W. W. Norton & Company
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Mary Stewart Hammond ISBN: 9780393253979
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company Publication: October 11, 2016
Imprint: W. W. Norton & Company Language: English
Author: Mary Stewart Hammond
ISBN: 9780393253979
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Publication: October 11, 2016
Imprint: W. W. Norton & Company
Language: English

Lyrical narratives that chronicle a long marriage, rich with wit, dark irony, and poignancy.

In her long-awaited second volume, Mary Stewart Hammond chronicles a long marriage with sharp wit, dark irony, and poignancy. As James Merrill says of Hammond’s poems, they “brim with what the whole world knows.”

Entering History opens on a middle-aged couple, modern-day travelers in an ancient setting. The collection follows their relationship through time and place, combining the personal and the historical in stories of the family—siblings, a daughter, and the very different marriage of the poet’s parents.

The marriage poems share the intimacy, erotic playfulness, irritations, worries, and angers that are part of an enduring love and a long marriage. In “Portrait of My Husband Reading Henry James,” the poet paints her husband using syntax and language that evoke James’s. In “Venasque,” the wintry village, perched on the edge of a cliff, serves as a metaphor for the existential crisis facing the couple.

“Lines composed at Beaufort, South Carolina, a few miles above Parris Island,” about the poet’s brother, moves back and forth between the Civil War and the preparations of troops for today’s wars. In “Jacob and Esau with Sister,” two brothers, in a transaction as old as oral history, highlight its consequences in the twenty-first century. “Anniversary” is a heartbreaking elegy for a third brother who kills himself.

Hammond reaches into the past and present of the American family, closing Entering History where it began, with the couple in bed, now older, harkening back to the bed they shared when they were newlyweds. These powerful, beautifully crafted, lyrical narratives give depth to an examination of life—its joys, sorrows, laughter, and tragedies.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Lyrical narratives that chronicle a long marriage, rich with wit, dark irony, and poignancy.

In her long-awaited second volume, Mary Stewart Hammond chronicles a long marriage with sharp wit, dark irony, and poignancy. As James Merrill says of Hammond’s poems, they “brim with what the whole world knows.”

Entering History opens on a middle-aged couple, modern-day travelers in an ancient setting. The collection follows their relationship through time and place, combining the personal and the historical in stories of the family—siblings, a daughter, and the very different marriage of the poet’s parents.

The marriage poems share the intimacy, erotic playfulness, irritations, worries, and angers that are part of an enduring love and a long marriage. In “Portrait of My Husband Reading Henry James,” the poet paints her husband using syntax and language that evoke James’s. In “Venasque,” the wintry village, perched on the edge of a cliff, serves as a metaphor for the existential crisis facing the couple.

“Lines composed at Beaufort, South Carolina, a few miles above Parris Island,” about the poet’s brother, moves back and forth between the Civil War and the preparations of troops for today’s wars. In “Jacob and Esau with Sister,” two brothers, in a transaction as old as oral history, highlight its consequences in the twenty-first century. “Anniversary” is a heartbreaking elegy for a third brother who kills himself.

Hammond reaches into the past and present of the American family, closing Entering History where it began, with the couple in bed, now older, harkening back to the bed they shared when they were newlyweds. These powerful, beautifully crafted, lyrical narratives give depth to an examination of life—its joys, sorrows, laughter, and tragedies.

More books from W. W. Norton & Company

Cover of the book Rancher, Farmer, Fisherman: Conservation Heroes of the American Heartland by Mary Stewart Hammond
Cover of the book The Ticking Is the Bomb: A Memoir by Mary Stewart Hammond
Cover of the book Joy Ride: Show People and Their Shows by Mary Stewart Hammond
Cover of the book The Widow's Children: A Novel by Mary Stewart Hammond
Cover of the book Where the Money Is: True Tales from the Bank Robbery Capital of the World by Mary Stewart Hammond
Cover of the book Midnight at the Pera Palace: The Birth of Modern Istanbul by Mary Stewart Hammond
Cover of the book Nevada: A Bicentennial History by Mary Stewart Hammond
Cover of the book The Attachment Therapy Companion: Key Practices for Treating Children & Families by Mary Stewart Hammond
Cover of the book The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes: The Complete Short Stories: The Return of Sherlock Holmes, His Last Bow and The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes (Non-slipcased edition) (Vol. 2) (The Annotated Books) by Mary Stewart Hammond
Cover of the book Johann Sebastian Bach: The Learned Musician by Mary Stewart Hammond
Cover of the book The Book of Splendor: A Novel by Mary Stewart Hammond
Cover of the book Storming Heaven: A Novel by Mary Stewart Hammond
Cover of the book The Quantum Spy: A Thriller by Mary Stewart Hammond
Cover of the book Faster, Higher, Farther: How One of the World's Largest Automakers Committed a Massive and Stunning Fraud by Mary Stewart Hammond
Cover of the book Superfandom: How Our Obsessions are Changing What We Buy and Who We Are by Mary Stewart Hammond
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy