Lyrics For The Bride Of God

Nathaniel Tarn

. . . in itself a book length poem of remarkable consistency, a living demonstration to all those who object that the long poem is dead and cannot be written in our age.

Ian Robinson, Shearsman

Lyrics For The Bride Of God

Poetry by Nathaniel Tarn

Nathaniel Tarn’s Lyrics for the Bride of God, a book-length poem composed over the course of five years, represents the author’s most sustained effort since The Beautiful Contradictions (1969). The Bride, first appearing at the end of that volume, here dominates the entire work in fulfilling her ultimate kabbalistic task: the return of the holy sparks, dispersed among mankind at the creation, to their original Source. In this, the Bride undergoes exile in the guise of a very human woman––constantly changing identity, species, race, color, age, and even sex; ranging through many different mythical and historical settings; raising a host of political issues from ecology to feminism: and creating, against Tarn’s anthropological background, an astonishing cosmos propelled by the eternal interaction of male and female. Perhaps the author’s most dramatic work, the Lyrics reflect a time of personal tension and loss, a time of exile from Europe transformed into a fervent adoption, on a continental scale, of his new American milieu. Overall, it is Tarn’s expansive, energetic woridview that makes the work cohere. At a time when so much poetry lacks either head or heart, Tarn clearly hopes that, in the Lyrics, both have full sway.

Buy Lyrics For The Bride Of God

Paperback(published Apr, 01 1975)

ISBN
9780811205665
Price US
3.75

Clothbound(published Apr, 01 1975)

ISBN
9780811205658
Price US
7.95
Portrait of Nathaniel Tarn

Nathaniel Tarn

Contemporary franco-american poet, translator and critic

. . . in itself a book length poem of remarkable consistency, a living demonstration to all those who object that the long poem is dead and cannot be written in our age.

Ian Robinson, Shearsman