Comment
These are a few comments on my poetry from people who I hope are qualified to judge. Most of the names will be familiar to you, but if you would like further information on any of them, please let me know. Please note that these are all bona fide comments, in many cases taken from private correspondence.
Of course, these are all positive comments! As time goes by, I may post some negative opinions as well, where I think they are justified and enlightening.
"I love the moments of serenity, the unfailing gravity, with sometimes a little gentle irony, showing an œuvre of great power, founded as well on Truth and Love, like the room in 'Home', those few so understated verses…We need these utopias without illusions" – YVES BONNEFOY
"Great clarity and confidence…unstrained but rich" – PETER SCUPHAM
"Paul St John Mackintosh is
writing singularly skilful and attractive poems. At the heart of his
work is a love of his medium. He delights in word-wit. His use of
rhyme is uninhibited, joyous. He is utterly alive to rhythm and
sound, form and tone. One can imagine Auden, aux anges, giving his craftsmanship an approving
grunt.
Poems such as 'The Magic Kingdom', 'The Life and Death of Sir John
Oldcastle, Lord Cobham', and 'An Expressionist Passion' – a
terrifying and moving rewrite of Christ's crucifixion – convince me
that this is a young poet worth following and worth listening to" –
KEVIN
CROSSLEY-HOLLAND
"A classical sense of form and order…bold assertions of truly classic values, committed enough to outface easy cynical responses" – PHILIP GROSS
"Poems which combine formal accomplishment with a lively inventiveness in treating a range of subjects – notably the foreign landscapes which he knows well and renders with accuracy and sympathy" – ALAN BROWNJOHN
"What singles itself out for immediate comment is the poems' remarkable voice and vocabulary…a genuine poetic diction, regularly using improbable rhymes and half-rhymes…natural, playful and provocative" – RICHARD MAYNE
"As one of the first literary editors to have 'discovered' Paul St John Mackintosh as a poet, I have known him and his work for several years now. His reputation is growing as is his work…He has now published his first full-length book of poems, The Golden Age, which uses his remarkable formal skills to convey his sensitivity to a wide range of European literary history and development combined with an assimilation of influences from his deep interest in Japanese culture. He is a dedicated writer" – PETER DALE
"Very fine, fully focused, and rhythmically achieved pieces that are a pleasure to read – and also some discursive surprises…there is an undeniable lyric power too…I foresee even more powerful things ahead" – STEPHEN ROMER
"This book [The Golden Age] alone strikes me as among the most distinguished by younger British poets known to me" – MICHAEL HAMBURGER
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