Dan Chiasson

Natural History 

Note, for example, the recent success of Dan Chiasson whose recent book Natural History is being lauded in poetry circles. Dan first “broke out” with a selection of poems in The New Yorker on “emerging poets.” His first book–well reviewed–was published by a good university press–University of Chicago. Natural History is from Knopf, perhaps the best commercial poetry press in North America.

Now Dan writes a good line, even quite a good line, but I’m not convinced that he’s a Wallace Stevens, for example. What Dan does seem to have (and forgive me if I’m letting my jealousy show just a tad) is simplicity. I mean by this that the poem easily gives up its meaning and emotion. Dan’s poems are never hard. They are great value-for-your-money poems. They are rarely long, generally unpretentious, and often clever–important qualities for readers who don’t generally like poetry.