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The Mystery of the Charity of Charles Péguy

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A long poem considers the life of French poet, Charles Peguy, who was killed during World War I

36 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1983

55 people want to read

About the author

Geoffrey Hill

82 books47 followers
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Sir Geoffrey William Hill was an English poet and professor emeritus of English literature and religion.

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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
Profile Image for Donald.
480 reviews33 followers
September 30, 2024
Now here is a poem! This has to be the best long poem in English since Eliot's Four Quartets (William Logan says so too).

I read it twice today. Would have been happy to read it three or four more times. It was gratifying to see how many of the French references I knew – and frankly exhilarating to read a long poem of such power and beauty. Hill is a notoriously "difficult" poet, which is true, I guess, but I think you can enjoy this without fishing for all the references. His notes and short bio of Péguy at the end fill in a lot of the blanks, so I recommend reading it through once without worrying about what you miss, then read his notes/bio and look things up before rereading.

Thank you to the late Geoffrey Hill for this amazing poem and for teaching me a new word: contumely (ˈkäntyo͝omlē, noun, insolent or insulting language or treatment).
Profile Image for Des Bladet.
168 reviews4 followers
January 2, 2025
Well OK I won't claim I understood very much of this or that I consider C Péguy a towering figure worthy of such a tribute, but the verse is quite soberly iambic and the sorta-rhyme schemes neatly maintained, so this is clearly very accomplished pomeing.
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