Ten Windows: How Great Poems Transform the World

In 20 or 30 years, this book may be remembered as one of the great common-readers on the pleasures of poetry. Hirshfield (Come, Thief; After) is not only a sensitive reader, but a pleasure to read. Her approach to poetry is exhilarating. Reading her is reminiscent of the joy found among the insights and illuminations of Hugh Kenner's best work. And, like Kenner's best work, Hirshfield never pontificates, she simply opens windows. The ten chapters explore the workings of poetry in general but center on a small gathering of poets: Gerard Manley Hopkins, Matsuo Basho, C.P. Cavafy, Czeslaw Milosz, Wislawa Szymborska, Elizabeth Bishop, and Emily Dickinson, among others. Not an overview, and not simply a collection of random essays, this book gives one the sensation that poetry is truly a force that could change the world. One of the most beautiful passages is a description of snow taken from a journal of Hopkins. Hirshfield gently juxtaposes that lyrical meditation on a snowy vista with a handful of pictures from Hopkins's poetry and by doing so gently opens readers' eyes to the distinction between prose and poetry. In this luminous moment, she models not only great critical insight but perfect pedagogical aplomb. Another notable passage grapples with the wonders of Bishop's "The Map."