Most Read... Rebecca WattsThe Cult of the Noble Amateur
(PN Review 239)
John McAuliffeBill Manhire in Conversation with John McAuliffe
(PN Review 259)
Patricia CraigVal Warner: A Reminiscence
(PN Review 259)
Eavan BolandA Lyric Voice at Bay
(PN Review 121)
Vahni CapildeoOn Judging Prizes, & Reading More than Six Really Good Books
(PN Review 237)
Christopher MiddletonNotes on a Viking Prow
(PN Review 10)
Next Issue Kirsty Gunn re-arranges the world John McAuliffe reads Seamus Heaney's letters and translations Chris Price's 'Songs of Allegiance' David Herman on Aharon Appelfeld Victoria Moul on Christopher Childers compendious Greek and Latin Lyric Book Philip Terry again answers the question, 'What is Poetry'
Poems Articles Interviews Reports Reviews Contributors
Reader Survey
PN Review Substack

This poem is taken from PN Review 50, Volume 12 Number 6, July - August 1986.

'Two Letters of Gotthold Ephraim Lessing' James Greene

1

My dear Eschenburg, I take this moment when my wife
Is lying here altogether without consciousness
To thank you for your kind condolence.

My happiness was short-lived.
I lost him so unwillingly, this son,
Because he possessed so much good sense!

Do not imagine that these few hours of fatherhood
Turned me into a doting papa! I know what I am saying:
...


Searching, please wait... animated waiting image