Hill is the author of a poetry collection, has published widely in poetry journals, and is an associate editor for a university publications department. In the following essay, she argues that, while allusions are effective literary devices and can add much to a poem, "Deep Woods" is overdone with them, detracting from its quality and strength.
Howard Nemerov's "Deep Woods" may indeed be in keeping with the poet's profound, highly intellectual style and subject matter, but this time it appears he has "out-Nemerov'd" himself. This eighty-seven-line poem could end at line 42 and be much more effective in letting its remarkable early imagery stand alone to make the point. The addition of allusion after allusion piled on top of one another in the second half of the poem serves only to diminish the strong.....
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