In this meditative and incisive collection, Pulitzer Prize winner
Stephen Dunn draws on themes of morality and mortality to explore the
innermost machinations of human nature. Shifting in tone but never
wavering in their essential honesty, these poems reflect on desire,
restraint, and the roles we play in an ever-evolving society. A stunning
sequence on the relationship between the speaker and "Mrs. Cavendish"
examines an intimacy sustained and repelled by politics, philosophy, and
attraction. Wide-ranging, intellectually daring, and wry, Pagan
Virtues reminds us of Dunn's penetrating eye for the universal and the
specific, and his ability to highlight our contradictions with
tenderness and wit.