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y separately published work icon Satan Repentant selected work   poetry  
Issue Details: First known date: 2018... 2018 Satan Repentant
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Notes

  • Dedication: For my brother, Jesse,

    for the gift of his inspired spark throughout our lives,

    and for his dignity, endurance and love. 

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

    • Nedlands, Inner Perth, Perth, Western Australia,: UWA Publishing , 2018 .
      image of person or book cover 8332855673075233484.jpg
      Image courtesy of publisher's website.
      Extent: 140p.p.
      Note/s:
      • Published June 2018.

      ISBN: 9781742589770
      Series: y separately published work icon UWAP Poetry Club Crawley : UWA Publishing , 2016- 10166627 2016 series - publisher poetry

Works about this Work

Stephanie Downing Reviews Satan Repentant by Michael Aiken Stephanie Downing , 2019 single work review
— Appears in: Plumwood Mountain [Online] , February 2019;

— Review of Satan Repentant Michael Aitken , 2018 selected work poetry
Devilry David Dick , 2018 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , October no. 405 2018; (p. 57)

'It is time to repent my sins. Recently, I have been asking myself if poetry is exempt from a need to entertain. Is the act of reading a poem or a book of poetry an escapist, amusing, joyous diversion from the rigours of reality? Or is it something more tedious, cold-blooded, blandly intellectual – an act not of enjoyment, but of control and imposition?'  (Introduction)

Michael Aiken : Satan Repentant Martin Duwell , 2018 single work essay
— Appears in: Australian Poetry Review , vol. 13 no. 2018;

'This is a really unusual and fascinating book, a kind of micro Paradise Lost but with a brilliant twist that deepens the poetry and our response to it. More of that later but initially it is worth noting that Michael Aiken’s first book, A Vicious Example, which has a high degree of focus on observing parts of Sydney, seems so different to this cosmic narrative that no easily observable continuities exist, although they must be there since both books, after all, have their origins in the same poet and the same sensibility. Continuities might, in fact, be obvious to the poet though hidden from readers. Satan Repentant is a re-imagining of the events immediately after Satan’s expulsion from heaven after his unsuccessful rebellion. Instead of “rolling in the fiery gulf, / confounded though immortal”, in this version he undergoes a rehabilitation, negotiating with God and contenting himself with being reborn, re-incarnated as a human being. His position as leader in Hell is taken by Beelzebub (Lord of the Flies) who transforms into a creature not entirely unlike some medieval versions of Satan himself: a kind of pig-god (reading this book, I can’t help thinking that this is a little unfair to pigs) multi-legged, inclined to spewing out all kinds of corrupt liquids. Re-enacting the opening of Job, Beelzebub persuades God to allow him free access to the human version of Satan. Satan’s uncomfortable prospects are multiplied when two of the archangels, on their own initiative, contrive to attack him as well on the principle that if God relents and allows Satan back into heaven then their own futures, as his erstwhile enemies, won’t be too promising either.' (Introduction)

Stephanie Downing Reviews Satan Repentant by Michael Aiken Stephanie Downing , 2019 single work review
— Appears in: Plumwood Mountain [Online] , February 2019;

— Review of Satan Repentant Michael Aitken , 2018 selected work poetry
Michael Aiken : Satan Repentant Martin Duwell , 2018 single work essay
— Appears in: Australian Poetry Review , vol. 13 no. 2018;

'This is a really unusual and fascinating book, a kind of micro Paradise Lost but with a brilliant twist that deepens the poetry and our response to it. More of that later but initially it is worth noting that Michael Aiken’s first book, A Vicious Example, which has a high degree of focus on observing parts of Sydney, seems so different to this cosmic narrative that no easily observable continuities exist, although they must be there since both books, after all, have their origins in the same poet and the same sensibility. Continuities might, in fact, be obvious to the poet though hidden from readers. Satan Repentant is a re-imagining of the events immediately after Satan’s expulsion from heaven after his unsuccessful rebellion. Instead of “rolling in the fiery gulf, / confounded though immortal”, in this version he undergoes a rehabilitation, negotiating with God and contenting himself with being reborn, re-incarnated as a human being. His position as leader in Hell is taken by Beelzebub (Lord of the Flies) who transforms into a creature not entirely unlike some medieval versions of Satan himself: a kind of pig-god (reading this book, I can’t help thinking that this is a little unfair to pigs) multi-legged, inclined to spewing out all kinds of corrupt liquids. Re-enacting the opening of Job, Beelzebub persuades God to allow him free access to the human version of Satan. Satan’s uncomfortable prospects are multiplied when two of the archangels, on their own initiative, contrive to attack him as well on the principle that if God relents and allows Satan back into heaven then their own futures, as his erstwhile enemies, won’t be too promising either.' (Introduction)

Devilry David Dick , 2018 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , October no. 405 2018; (p. 57)

'It is time to repent my sins. Recently, I have been asking myself if poetry is exempt from a need to entertain. Is the act of reading a poem or a book of poetry an escapist, amusing, joyous diversion from the rigours of reality? Or is it something more tedious, cold-blooded, blandly intellectual – an act not of enjoyment, but of control and imposition?'  (Introduction)

Last amended 27 Nov 2018 10:18:45
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