Darlington's Fall

I love the novel-poem DARLINGTON'S FALL, and rate it up there with EUGENE ONEGIN, DON JUAN, and GOLDEN GATE. I would like to include an excerpt: this is not one that moves the plot forward, but I love Leithauser's reflections on the sounds of words used for animal names.

(Though as for that, what gorgeous words they are:
Aurochs and oryx, gorilla and gazelle,
Ouzel and zebra, jaguar and jacamar,
Zebu and emu, lemur, philomel;
Saber-toothed tiger and scarlet tanager,
Golden tamarind, paradise flycatcher;
Langur and lamprey, quoll and quokka,
Thrips and thrush, and foraminifera;
And the prodigal, sprung from winter's forge:
The yet-glowing ember of the rouge-gorge.)

(But as for that, what great plug-ugly words
They are: numbat, meerkat, muskrat, show more sprat;
Boobies and boobacks, warthogs and wattlebirds;
Milk snake, natterjack, muntjac, jackass; flat-
head catfish, wrasse, and trogan; grunion and pout,
Potoroo, rudistan, and red-necked grunt; black
Crappie, white grub, screwworn, screech owl; snout
Beetle, bettong, dugong, and stickeback;
slug, quahog, dogfish, earwig, pug,
Poby, pig-footed bandicoot, stinkbug.)

Beautiful! Listen to the meter! One of the things that I really loved about the book is that I fell in love with Darlington, and by extension, with the author. And art does that: makes me fall in love with people and places that I might not otherwise notice or care about.

If I have exceeded the limits of copyright by quoting too much, I guess I'll be excised. show less

Can't figure out how to rate this one. Definitely enjoyed the book and its form—but can't figure out whether it was my own (pretty baseless) bias against overt rhyme that cast an unfair judgment upon it or what.