Eli Siegel

A glorious book by an author who received a National Book Award nomination for it. (His first book of poetry, incidentally, was nominated for the Pulitzer). Most poets---even among the very best---tend to have a limited stylistic range. The most wonderful aspect of this book, to my mind, is its poetic diversity, without ever sacrificing artistic quality. The translations (mainly, though not entirely, from the French) are superb. One hears the music of the original language through the sensitive choice of just the right English words. At the same time, the "literal" meaning comes through clear as a bell. And then, the purely original work---ranging from strict sonnets (and one "ballade" in the pure structure of that late medieval French poetic form) to some of the finest free verse I've ever encountered. There are also a whole series of poems in rhyme, but with marvelously innovative structures. Yet when Eli Siegel wants to do "traditional' ballad forms, they ring with freshness and sincerity. The humor of many poems is apparent and deep. But there are also poems with heartfelt pathos and honest surrealism. I can't think of another 20th century poet in English who could do all this; in fact, who did do all this! As for the strange (really, passingly strange) snipe another reviewer took of this book by a sidelong and sneering reference to Eli Siegel's work as a philosopher, all I can say---with the maximum charity I can muster---is that that reviewer either got his opinion 2nd-hand, and never read the 1st-rate philosophic writing Siegel did, or if he did read it, perhaps came not full equipped to value it. Suffice it to say, that Eli Siegel broke new philosophic ground of a profound (and profoundly useful) kind; yet to grasp fully why this is so, a reader ought to have a background adequate to the task. That is, a prior knowledge and appreciation of Kant, Hegel, Spinoza (at the very least), plus also Samuel Taylor Coleridge's philosophic writings. Absent that kind of knowledge, I'm afraid, a reviewer is really ill-equipped to grasp what really is an unparalleled fact in cultural history: that an author could be equally great as poet and outright philosopher. All great poets, of course, have implicit depth of philosophy in their verse. For that matter, one can say that all great philosophers delve into issues of poetic depth. But, strictly speaking, to write great poetry as poetry, and great philosophy as philosophy, is something the cultural world really has hardly seen. Where are the great poems of Kant? Or the great philosophic treatises of Tennyson? Shelley and Dante come to mind as possible examples. With Eli Siegel, though, the sheer body of excellent work in both fields was extraordinary. I'm on solid ground by saying, at least in Western culture, he had, in this regard, no equal.… (meer)

Well, I feel impelled to add a review because of the very weird review currently posted. The core question about a poet, of course, is the value of the poetry. And with Eli Siegel we are speaking about one of the greatest masters of poetry of the 20th century. This is not my opinion only. William Carlos Williams (who should know!) said of the title poem in this volume that it was so great that all other poets were "compelled to pursue his lead." (His entire letter on the subject of Eli Siegel's artistic greatness is actually included in this book, as something of a preface.) The book also was nominated for a Pulitzer prize. (Siegel's second book of poetry was similarly honored: this time by a nomination for a National Book Award).

In short, the poetry is magnificent. As for Aesthetic Realism, which the reviewer I mentioned wrote of in such odd terms, it is the philosophy Eli Siegel taught. Scholars in many fields have written doctoral dissertations with this philosophy as their stated basis. Dozens of scholarly journals have published peer-reviewed articles likewise having this philosophy as their core methodology. Major academic publishers, from China to the UK, have published books with Aesthetic Realism clearly present as the book's foundation. I could say a good deal more---but the point is: I am quite sure that any open-minded reader, not prejudiced by high-powered and provocatively negative language, will discover for themselves just how kind, valuable, insightful and profound Eli Siegel was: both in his poetry, and in his philosophic prose. And in each aspects of the English language, how beautifully musical.… (meer)

Having done a great deal of work---both in my doctoral research, and afterwards in my scholarly career---into the question of the philosophic relation of Art and Life, I can say, without reservation, that this book by Eli Siegel is uniquely valuable. While others have hinted at the possibility that Art and Life explain each other, no philosopher has ever made the reason for that inter-explanation so clear. And---for that matter---so thrilling, and practical. There is a depth of knowledge here, expressed in a remarkably lucid style. So deep, one has to call it that greatest of all levels of knowledge: wisdom. I must say, this way of writing philosophy is a welcome relief from the vast majority of contemporary philosophic prose. Instead of dense polysyllabic (yet often evasive) verbiage, we get in Eli Siegel's writing a superb richness of thought, elegantly expressed, and with an earthy directness that is at the same time, resonant with the greatest intellectual and cultural profundities. As is apparent, I highly recommend this book. And, In particular, its third chapter, "The Aesthetic Method in Self-Conflict."… (meer)