Geoffrey Hill and the ends of poetry

<p>The idea of the end is an essential motivic force in the poetry of Geoffrey Hill (1932-2016). This book shows that Hill's poems are characteristically 'end-directed'. They tend towards consummations of all kinds: from the marriages of meanings in puns or of words in repeating figures and rhymes to syntactical and formal finalities. The recognition of failure to reach such ends provides its own impetus to Hill's poetry.<br>This is the first book on Hill to take account of his last works. It is a significant contribution to the study of Hill's poems offering a new thematic reading of his entire body of work. By using Hill's work as an example the book also touches on questions of poetry's ultimate value: what are its ends and where does it wish to end up?</p>