SOURCE: Review of The Night Abraham Called the Stars, by Robert Bly. Publishers Weekly 248, no. 17 (23 April 2001): 73.

In the following review of The Night Abraham Called the Stars, the unsigned critic finds the verses of Bly's collection—inspired by Islamic religious poetry, the Bible, and great works of art and literature in the western tradition—sincere, but generally unable to match the grandeur of their subjects.

When Iron John: A Book About Men took off in the early '90s, Bly's poetic reputation was instantly eclipsed, though he had long embraced mythic precedents and close examination of masculine feelings in his work. Bly has also worked in collaboration with linguists to translate Islamic religious poetry, and this eighth collection reflects these and other varied and sustained interests. The book's 48 lyrics are written in a single (here terceted) form, the ghazal, used by such great Islamic poets as Ghalib, and...