Longlisted for the 2014 National Book Award Never has there been a book of poems quite like Gabriel, in which a short life, a bewildering death, and the unanswerable sorrow of a father come

Gabriel: A Poem

Longlisted for the 2014 National Book Award

Never has there been a book of poems quite like Gabriel, in which a short life, a bewildering death, and the unanswerable sorrow of a father come together in such a sustained elegy. This unabashed sequence speaks directly from Hirschâ€™s heart to our own, without sentimentality. From its opening linesâ€”â€œThe funeral director opened the coffin / And there he was alone / From the waist upâ€â€”Hirschâ€™s account is poignantly direct and open to the strange vicissitudes and tricks of grief. In propulsive three-line stanzas, he tells the story of how a once unstoppable child, who suffered from various developmental disorders, turned into an irreverent young adult, funny, rebellious, impulsive. Hirsch mixes his tale of Gabriel with the stories of other poets through the centuries who have also lost children, and expresses his feelings through theirs. His landmark poem enters the broad stream of human grief and raises in us the strange hope, even consolation, that we find in the writerâ€™s act of witnessing and transformation. It will be read and reread.Â Â

Country	USA
Brand	Knopf
Manufacturer	Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Binding	Paperback
PartNumber	Refer to Sapnet.
Color	White
IsAdultProduct
Height	8.93699
Length	6.06298
Weight	0.32187490252
Width	0.27559
ReleaseDate	2016-03-01
NumberOfItems	1

Gabriel: A Poem