The Whispering Gallery

by William Logan

The poems here delve into what William Logan calls the “ill-lit kingdom of the past.” The book is haunted by the dead but equally penitent toward the rich insinuations of the living: the lost floral paradise of the Florida outlands, the steamy Gatsby summers of a Long Island childhood, the frozen stones of a colonial burying ground. This new collection of seventy-two poems will allow readers to delight in the richness of Logan’s language and the boldness of his vision.

Genres: Poetry

78 pages, Paperback

First published September 27, 2005

About the author

William Logan is Alumni/ae Professor at the University of Florida. He is the author of seven books of criticism, most recently Dickinson’s Nerves, Frost’s Woods: Poetry in the Shadow of the Past (Columbia, 2018), and eleven books of poetry. Logan has won the inaugural Randall Jarrell Award in Poetry Criticism, the Aiken Taylor Award in Modern American Poetry, the Staige D. Blackford Prize for Nonfiction, the Allen Tate Prize, and the National Book Critics Circle Award in Criticism.

Reviews

[Margaryta · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm finding it a bit hard to believe that "The Whispering Gallery" is by the same poet who wrote "Madame X", which I enjoyed so much, or "Night Battle", which comes before this collection, unlike Madame X. There were only a few poems in the beginning that I fully enjoyed, which fully captivated me, and created a false sense of comfort and enjoyment, which I thought would carry through the whole collection. The rest of the poems were much more disjointed and consciously heavy, loaded with references, names, and terms which make them sound like they're showing off. These poems I still enjoyed because of Logan's ability to create enticing images which, even if they're unfamiliar or a bit difficult to process, they're still at least appealing to the senses.

What I DID have an issue with however was the much more racially and sexually charged nature of this collection compared to the other two of his which I've read. The exoticism and mentioning of African Americans made me feel quite uncomfortable. If Logan was doing this to create a mis-en-scene or to even criticize this part of history, then he didn't get this across as well as he could have, as the implications of the wording/imagery felt much more insensitive. The sexuality/gender portrayal was what got to me the most. Although there were only a handful of poems that fit into this classification, it was still quite cringe-worthy for women to be presented in such a sexualized manner, especially in the poem "Odalisque", in which the woman is described as being beautiful but not beautiful, and where the male speaker clearly exerts his dominant gaze and later makes a point of emphatically saying how he refused her.

Maybe Logan was having a bit of a rough period in his life while he was writing these poems - this seems to be the only logical explanation my brain can come up with. It's a bit hard to believe that a poem who has included so many rhymed poems, almost all of them inducing some kind of cringe or even a bit of a eye roll, can still be praised as one of the most prominent American poets (which I swear I see written on at least half of the poetry books I pick up, though many of the names are unfamiliar to me). There's some great ideas and glimmers of atmosphere in these, but "The Whispering Gallery" was more of an example of what poetry SHOULD NOT look like, that is, unless you're a middle-aged white man who's writing for a similarly conservative and rather uptight audience.

[Andre · Rating 3 out of 5]

He's been developing a pretty good reputation, but this is the first of his works I've read. His technical ability if impressive, but he often goes down rabbit holes that seem to meander without focus. I don't know that I would search out more of his stuff, but I'll definitely read it when I happen to stumble upon it.

[Janée Baugher · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some really incredible lines in this book. Leaden with formal poems, but what's the theme that binds all these poems to a common spine?

[Eileen Dashiell · Rating 2 out of 5]

Didn't do anything for me.