In a Dark Time … The Eye Begins to See

Robert Penn Warren’s “Promises: Poems 1954-1956″ finally contains some of the kinds of poems I was expecting when I asked for his collected poems for Christmas. After a hundred pages of slogging through poems that I found less than inspirational, I was delighted to find several poems in this forty page section that I [...]

Apparently concerned “Promises” may have given too optimistic view of human nature, Warren returned to old themes in “You, Emperors, and Others.” In fact, the section begins with a series of poems entitled “Garland for You,” you being, apparently, we, we the readers, and, thus, the series is an exploration of human nature. It’s [...]

Robert Penn Warren’s “Tale of Time: Poems 1960-1966″ continues his exploration of the dark side of human life, this time with a particular focus on death. The title poem is a sequence of VII poems, with several sub-poems that focuses on his mother’s death. Although not all the poems focus on death, many [...]

Despite Harold Bloom’s assurances that in “Incarnations, Poems 1966-1968″ a “new Warren emerged with astonishing intensity,” I found it difficult to find a poem that really resonated with me like his later poems. However, after repeated readings, “In the Mountains” struck me as my favorite poem in this section because it best introduced later themes, or, [...]