An odd sort of collection; of essays on poetry and on poets which stand alone, coupled with reviews of new poetry books which were clearly written for a moment in time. The essays which stand alone are fascinating and insightful; the book reviews have snatches of insight, but are less able to be read out of their original context and without knowledge of the poetic corpus under review.

Got an arc from Netgalley in the exchange for an honest review.

This was not my cup of tea but I still finished this book. Sadly I'm not the right demographic reader of this type of book. So I can not comment much.

But thank you net galley for the arc of this book. 😊

William Logan presents a work of poetic critique and reflection that would be essential paired reading in a range of literature and composition courses. Erudite, insightful, literary, Logan probes what poetry is in a meaningful and dialogue-provoking manner.

Name: Broken Ground
Author: William Logan
Genre: Poetry
Rating: 4/5
Review:
Broken Ground: Poetry and the Demon of History by William Logan collects some of his critical writings and offers a nice glimpse into both his strengths and weaknesses as a critic.
Even with his inflated sense of self, he offers a reader a lot of insight into the ways in which a poem can be more or less effective. Paying attention to the elements he looks at within a poet's work helps us to also look at those same things. We may disagree with him about how well they succeed, especially if it is something outside his narrow preference, but looking at a poem through the eyes of a poet is useful for those of us who are not poets (in the sense of verse) even if we are trained in literature but mostly prose, which he views with disdains except, maybe, in "small doses."