“An American Bookman in England”
Pulitzer-prize winning book critic and collector Michael Dirda recently visited England to deliver the Richard Lancelyn Green lecture to the Sherlock Holmes Society of London (his talk was titled "The Rivals of… Read More
Afaa Michael Weaver Interviewed Live by Ernest Hilbert
Hey, Philly, I'll be interviewing award-winning poet Afaa Michael Weaver as part of the Moonstone Gold series at Fergie's Pub, 1214 Sansom Street. Further info appears below. Hope to see you there!… Read More
“Haunted House” by E. A. Robinson
“That this, our age, ran wild in the quest of new ways to be new . . . Robinson stayed content with the old-fashioned ways to be new.” - Robert Frost … Read More
Ernest Hilbert Reviews Paperbacks from Hell for the Washington Post
Just in time for Halloween! My review of Grady Hendrix’s wildly amusing book Paperbacks from Hell: The Twisted History of ’70s and ’80s Horror Fiction (Quirk Books) appears in the Sunday, October… Read More
“Here Comes the Munster Koach” by . . . ?
If you're casting about for another obscure track for your Halloween playlist, you should consider the rare and mysterious song "(Here Comes the) Munster Koach," issued as part of the merchandising for… Read More
“Hudson” by John Foy
"Night Vision is a book that sees the dark and sees in the dark, with a clarity that few poets achieve even in daylight. Whether John Foy is writing about the casualties… Read More
“Our Monotonous Sublime: Robert Lowell’s Notebook Poems” by Ernest Hilbert
My long essay on Robert Lowell's late career blank verse sonnets appears in the new issue of Literary Matters. Those poems exerted a potent influence on me while writing my own first… Read More
“Advice to a Prophet” by Richard Wilbur
"Richard Wilbur is a poet for all of us, whose elegant words brim with wit and paradox.” - Daniel J. Boorstin… Read More
Ernest Hilbert in Conversation at the Rosenbach
I have been invited to talk a bit about my essay “Austen’s Ring and Shelley’s Heart: Our Fascination with Literary Relics.” I'll discuss rare book collectors and their attraction to objects once owned… Read More
“Only Human” by Sammy Jay
Sammy Jay, 29, grew up in Oxford and in Ireland by the sea. He is a rare book dealer with Peter Harrington of London, and has just issued his first trade catalogue:… Read More
“The Common Life” by W.H. Auden
"In times of joy, all of us wished we possessed a tail we could wag." - W. H. Auden… Read More
“Dream Song 310” by John Berryman
"Here is Berryman's masterpiece, one of those books of American poetry that, like certain mountains, has its own weather. Berryman found his form in these songs. They are serious, ambitious and elastic… Read More
Don’t Miss Poets Ryan Wilson and James Matthew Wilson at the Free Library
Ryan Wilson, author of The Stranger World and James Matthew Wilson, author of Some Permanent Things at The Free Library of Philadelphia, 1901 Vine St., Room 108, Monday, October 2nd, 6:30PM… Read More
“Much On The Cliffs: The Philosophies of John Ashbery” (A Film)
This film was produced in 1997 by University of California Television (UCTV) as a part of the series "Artists on the Cutting Edge."… Read More
“An Afternoon at the Beach” by Edgar Bowers
"Though he was essentially a rationalist, Bowers's poems are marked by extreme aesthetic refinement and an intense feeling for the mystery of things. His teacher and friend Yvor Winters described him as… Read More
Ernest Hilbert Reviews Michael Dirda’s Browsings: A Year of Reading, Collecting, and Living with Books
My review of Michael Dirda's latest book, Browsings: A Year of Reading, Collecting, and Living with Books appears in the new issue of The Hopkins Review, Summer 2017, New Series 10.3, along… Read More
“Campo Santo” by Ernest Hilbert
Connotation Press: An Online Artifact exists to publish and promote the finest art and artists available, and to provide a place for a wide variety of art to flourish. From the printed… Read More
“Mid-August at Sourdough Mountain Lookout” by Gary Snyder
"As a boy I was hungry for images of wild nature, for a catalogue of landscapes, of flora and fauna, of minerals and processes, of sensory experiences. 'Pitch glows on the fir-cones'… Read More
Ernest Hilbert Reviews Willard Spiegelman’s Senior Moments: Looking Back, Looking Ahead
My review of Willard Spiegelman's latest collection of essays, Senior Moments: Looking Back, Looking Ahead, appears in the new issue of Hopkins Review, Volume 10, Number 2, Spring 2017, alongside poems by… Read More
“Hook Road, Delaware River” by John Foy
John Foy’s first book is Techne’s Clearinghouse (Zoo Press). His poems are included in the Swallow Anthology of New American Poets, The Raintown Review Anthology, and Rabbit Ears, an anthology of poems… Read More
“In Ipsley Church Lane 1” by Geoffrey Hill
“In my view, difficult poetry is the most democratic, because you are doing your audience the honour of supposing that they are intelligent human beings. So much of the populist poetry of… Read More
Ernest Hilbert’s “Seasonal Drinking” in Modern Drunkard Magazine
My short poem “Seasonal Drinking” appears in the new issue of Modern Drunkard magazine, Number 61, the Adventure Issue, in the “Postcards from Skid Row” section. I subscribe, but I hadn’t yet… Read More
Ernest Hilbert in the Washington Post
My review of Abigail Williams' new book, The Social Life of Books: Reading Together in the Eighteenth-Century Home, appears in the Sunday, July 16th issue of The Washington Post newspaper. I was surprised… Read More
Ernest Hilbert Interviewed by a Professional Investigator for the Schuylkill Valley Journal
Poets are sometimes sought for interviews, perhaps not as zealously as are pop stars and politicians, but, still, it happens. I've been interviewed on a number of occasions, a few times on… Read More
“House and Home” by Ernest Hilbert
Connotation Press: An Online Artifact exists to publish and promote the finest art and artists available, and to provide a place for a wide variety of art to flourish. From the printed… Read More
“Independence Day” by Ernest Hilbert
The Yale Review traces its history back to 1819, when a group of Yale faculty members started a quarterly journal then known as The Christian Spectator. It was later renamed The New… Read More
“Too Much Time on My Hands”: Ryan Adams Covers Iron Maiden’s “Wasted Years”
I've always felt that a test of a good rock song is its ability to stand up in a simplified performance, typically with a piano or acoustic guitar reduction of what was… Read More
Venue Change: Ernest and Ian Hilbert at Toast Cafe, 1201 Spruce Street
I'll be reading upstairs at Fergie's Pub at 7PM on Wednesday, June 21st with Laura Spagnoli and David Moolton (and their children) for a Moonstone Arts evening dedicated to poetry about life… Read More
Ernest Hilbert Appears as Featured Reader for Schuylkill Valley Journal
Come on out to hear me read on Sunday, June 11th for the Schuylkill Valley Journal. The new issue of the journal contains a portfolio of my poems from Caligulan and my… Read More
“Pornosophical Philotheology!” Hilbert Reads from the “Circe” Chapter of James Joyce’s Ulysses for the Rosenbach Musem & Library’s Annual Bloomsday
“There is a flower that bloometh . . .” Hey, Philly, I’ll be reading from the “Circe” chapter of James Joyce’s Ulysses for the Rosenbach Musem & Library’s Annual Bloomsday, Friday, June… Read More