ARK Paperback – August 1, 2014

Great book but not the edition I ordered

This is a late Modernist masterpiece. Johnson, defying Pound's definition of an epic poem as a 'poem including history', weaves his poem out of various attentions: the science & development of the human eye, science-fiction, the music of the cosmos, and pure sound itself, among other elements. He has successfully married the expansive projectivist poetics of Charles Olson's Maximus with the spare, lean and architectural music of Louis Zukofsky, and in the process created something wholly original. Architecture itself is another guiding principle, specifically the 'outsider art' of Simon Rodia's Watts Towers and Le Palais ideal of Ferdinand Cheval. A must for all lovers of great poetry.

One of the great long poems of the 20th Century. I'm very happy to see it back in print. It isn't easy, but it's rewarding and deserves to be more widely known.

This was written by my cousin ... lovely book, what a great poet he was.

A perfect long poem.

This epic poem is one of the three poetry collections I make sure to always have with me. The other two are Duino Elegies by Rilke and Four Quartets by T.S. Eliot. Ronald Johnson is that rare modern poet who can make formal invention a joyful process for the reader. ARK is a masterpiece and I wish it was more widely available at an affordable price.

I expected better binding and over all quality on the Virginia Woolf books. I will hesitate to order books of that type now.

I bought this book for my girlfriend several months ago. She read it when she was in school, and was very fascinated by it. It is difficult to come across, but I was lucky enough to find it here for very cheap. The prices that people are selling it for now are insulting.

and Ronald Johnson in this book displays his writing powers with real class. Literary history may well put Johnson away ahead of his peers in terms of ambition and range.

This book, described as 'a metaphysical poem for our time,' is Johnson's magnum opus - his 'Long Poem'. Constructed in three sections, with architectural connotations, it is a collection of concrete poems, borrowed fragments and fascinating word-play. It is both 'heavy' and 'light' - you can dip into the sparkling little verses or deliberate for hours about the finer points of its construction and meaning. It's a work of art in its own right.