Principal Products of Portugal: Prose Pieces

This eloquent and perceptive collection of previously published articles by Hall, a poet (The One Day) and essayist (Life Work), is a joy to read. Not surprisingly, he is at his most incisive when writing about poets and their craft. In ``Long Robinson,'' he muses on the masterful style of Edwin Arlington Robinson and argues convincingly for his restoration to a major place in American poetry. Hall's love of words--``I take sentences apart and put them together again''--informs his critical tributes to historian Henry Adams and poet James Wright. A sports buff, he also pays homage to basketball great Bob Cousy and baseball's Carlton Fisk. An afterword describes Hall's struggles to write effective prose and comments on the creative relationship between essays and poetry. (Apr.)