Madoc: A Mystery

by Paul Muldoon

Subtitled A Mystery , this verse narrative collects several poems concerning the so-called "Pantisocracy" (meaning a state ruled equally by all), a utopian scheme devised and later abandoned by the 18th-century poet-philosophers Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Robert Southey. What if they had indeed set up such an ideal community on the banks of the Susquehanna? That is the crux of this book's long and fascinating title poem, which depicts events via the mind's eye of one of Southey's reputed descendants.

The poems in this book also focus more directly on the legend of Madoc himself, the Welsh prince who some believe came to America 300 years before Columbus and sired a line of Welsh-speaking Indians.

Genres: Poetry, Fiction

272 pages, Paperback

First published September 30, 1990

About the author

Born in Northern Ireland, Muldoon currently resides in the US and teaches at Princeton University. He held the chair of Professor of Poetry at Oxford University from 1999 through 2004. In September 2007, Muldoon became the poetry editor of The New Yorker.

Awards:
1992: Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize for Madoc: A Mystery
1994: T. S. Eliot Prize for The Annals of Chile
1997: Irish Times Irish Literature Prize for Poetry for New Selected Poems 1968–1994
2002: T. S. Eliot Prize (shortlist) for Moy Sand and Gravel
2003: Griffin Poetry Prize (Canada) for Moy Sand and Gravel
2003: Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for Moy Sand and Gravel
2004: American Ireland Fund Literary Award
2004: Aspen Prize
2004: Shakespeare Prize

Reviews

[J · Rating 3 out of 5]

Intriguing.
I’m an outsider. Unfortunately not part of the inner circle of poets who are able to wink and smile whilst decoding the layers of references in this work.
Enjoyed it. Did not understand it. But it sparkled some neurons.

[Fin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating and exhaustively playful poem here. The broad strokes of the plot are understandable (and wonderfully zany) but the huge reams of detail embedded in every line are staggering. In terms of actually lacing together the great webs of meaning Muldoon weaves into this work, most of the semantic heavy lifting is done at the level of the individual word: etymology, euphony, assonance and the pun reign supreme, and the plot is almost entirely conveyed through polysemy and assosciation. It's the kind of writing that makes your brain dance with signification, blissed out with the sheer sound of the phrases in the mouth and on the page.

[Vesa · Rating 1 out of 5]

I purchased the book because Madoc is the name of a fictional early (Irish) "discoverer" of North America cited along with John Cabot to strengthen the English Crown's claim to rights in America adverse to papal grants to the Spanish Crown. Perhaps my tastes were insufficiently developed to appreciate the poetry. I make no further comment in my defense. If you enjoy poetry, do not let my comment deter you from reading it; and, if you do read it I would enjoy your feedback which would enlighten me as to its merits.

[Edward Rathke · Rating 4 out of 5]

A funny and supremely odd and fluid novel made of historical and legendary characters and events.

It's a very strange book that plays with realism till it becomes surreal.