SOURCE: A review of The Best Hour of the Night, in World Literature Today, Vol. 59, No. 1, Winter, 1985, pp. 95–96.

In the following review, Ringold offers a positive assessment of The Best Hour of the Night.

A lyrical writer of power and delicacy, Louis Simpson shines once again in The Best Hour of the Night. Simpson, author of nine books of poetry, including At the End of the Open Road, which was awarded a Pulitzer Prize, is not one to hedge from his commitment to even the most mundane and unpleasant elements of everyday life or to poetry.

“The Previous Tenant,” a narrative poem at the center of the book and of Simpson's esthetic, cajoles and calls out to the reader in a voice that seems the epitome of “moderation and common sense.” At a leisurely pace, the narrative evokes incident and character with seemingly effortless clarity and precision: Dr...