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Hirsch, Edward : Earthly Measures: Poems

Alfred A. Knopf, New York City, NY, 1994

ISBN 0679430709

First Edition / First Printing. Fine in Fine Dust Jacket. 95 pages. The author's fourth collection of poems. One of the greatest poetry collections of the 20th century. The First Hardcover Edition. Precedes and should not be confused with all other subsequent editions. Published in a small and limited first print run as a hardcover original only. The First Edition is now scarce. Presents Edward Hirsch's "Earthly Measures: Poems". Widely regarded as his masterpiece. "A passionately important inquiry into the nature of worship and manifestations of the divine. His experience of place is both sensual and archaeological. As he soaks up the colors of the sky and draws upon the earth for inspiration, he also derives strength from 'the centuries welling up beneath him'. As he considers the relationship between instances of spiritual revelation and the everyday realities of irony and brutality, Hirsch concludes that it is the earth that needs our full attention and prayers" (Publisher's blurb). "These poems court the extremes of experience from transcendence to acedia: The moment of death, spiritual crisis, intense nostalgia. The lofty reach of the poems derives in part from the poet's chosen subjects. Many of them portray, in verse narrative, episodes from the lives of Simone Weil, Hugo von Hofmannsthal, Giacomo Leopardi, and Henry James. He brings great insight and sympathy to the writers and thinkers he imagines" (Publishers Weekly). "As we stood by the window in a waning light / We touched and moved away from each other / And turned back to our books. But it remained / Even so, like the thought of a coal fading / On the upper left-hand side of our chests, / A destination that we bore within ourselves" (Edward Hirsch). An absolute "must-have" title for Edward Hirsch collectors. This copy is very prominently and beautifully signed in black pen on the title page by Edward Hirsch. It is signed directly on the page itself, not on a tipped-in page. This title is a great book. This is one of few such signed copies of the First Hardcover Edition/First Printing still available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright, a pristine beauty. Please note: Copies available online have serious flaws, are subsequent printings, or are remainder-marked. This is surely an accessible and lovely alternative. A rare signed copy thus. "Earthly Measures" is regarded by Harold Bloom as one of the canonical works of the 20th century. One of the greatest poets of our time. A fine copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER EDWARD HIRSCH TITLES IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 0679430709.

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