The Book of Emblems - Poems (Paperback)

The Book of Emblems takes its title from the devotional genre, popular throughout the 16th and 17th centuries, whose allegorical illustrations were meant to focus the mind on the divine. Using a variety of narrative voices, a taut lyricism, and an array of imageries culled from the author's travels in the United States and abroad, The Book of Emblems celebrates the mind's aspiration to a deeper understanding of its own mysteries: the literary and visual arts, sexuality, familial love, and the dark, connective wonder of death. Matthew Ladd was born in Los Angeles and raised in the Texas Panhandle. His poems have appeared in such journals as the Paris Review, Yale Review, Virginia Quarterly, and Antioch Review. He currently lives in New York.