The Singing : Poems

Rating:
Summary: SINGING?
Review: I bought all of Williams' books at once and, for some reason, started with THE SINGING. The first section impressed me but then the other 3 sections went f l a t. The second section looks like a bad attempt at using the ghazal as a (new) form. After that, with the exception, maybe, of "In The Forest", f l a t. I've gone back to NEW & SELECTED and it's better. But THE SINGING is not a must-have.

Rating:
Summary: Uneven
Review: There are handful of very moving poems in this collection. Williams' best poems are grounded by concrete imagery, and they are engagingly anecdotal. But there are too many poems in this book that aren't tethered to earthly things at all, and it is difficult for the reader to reach them. He writes engagingly about growing old and about war. The best in the collection is called "The Hearth."