Oxford Poets S.
3 total works
This volume includes a selection of early work from Fleur Adcock's first two collections, The Eye of the Hurricane (1964) and Tigers (1967), together with a more substantial representation from the more recent High Tide in the Garden (1971), The Scenic Route (1974), and The Inner Harbour (1979), all now unavailable. The 1979 pamphlet Below Loughrigg and twenty-six uncollected poems are also included.
In the first part of this book, her first since "Time Zones" (OUP, 1991), Adcock looks at some of her ancestors, from relatively recent figures struggling with hardship and family tragedies in 19th-century Manchester, through rural lives in Midlands villages, to a few prominent heroes and villains in Elizabethan and medieval times. In the second section, the scene is more recent and the subjects various.
Well known as a poet in her own right, and as a translator, Fleur Adcock's new collection is both varied and lively. Her subjects ranges from domestic matters: recalling the birth of her son some years back; remembering her father, the news of whose death in New Zealand reaches her, the expatriate in England; working in her own London garden; to more trenchant matters of contemporary concern, such as the Romanian bid for freedom in 1989, and support for Green causes, including the anti-nuclear stand. Her mordant wit is mixed with great technical grace in this, her first collection since The Incident Book in 1986. This book is intended for general; poetry readers; those interested in green/women's issues.