Carcanet Press - Singing in the Dark

Description
Excerpt
Author
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Open publication - Free publishing - More british poetry

Alison Brackenbury's ballads for the modern world sing with a truth and directness that reach back through Edward Thomas and John Clare to the English folk-tradition itself. There are poems about birds and animals, the ancient rhythms of weather, landscape and season. The modern world is held in balance: terrorism, foreign war and domestic tension.

At the centre of Singing in the Dark are lyrics from Alison Brackenbury's radio poems, from Edward Thomas' army songs to Nick Drake's guitar, Alison Brackenbury's book offers music for dark times.

Alison Brackenbury was born in Lincolnshire in 1953.�She is descended from generations of skilled farm workers, including a dynasty of prize-winning shepherds. She won a scholarship to Oxford and left with a First in English. She then married and moved to a small town�in Gloucestershire, where she combined writing with horse-keeping, ... read more

'Filigreed with images of light and dark throughout, it's evocative, amusing and utterly compelling.'
Frances Lass, Radio Times 'Glorious'
Gillian Reynolds, Daily Telegraph 'Enchants'
The Times Praise for Alison Brackenbury 'In her powerful new collection Alison Brackenbury includes some eloquent farewells, beautifully and formally rendered in her clear and individual voice... Life, danger, risk, sorrow, accident and foreboding are all brought to a pertinent focus here. The poet examines many types of darkness and lifeâs difficulties in her illuminant language, and her unrivalled ability for unobtrusive but perfect form is ever-present.'
Penelope Shuttle, ARTEMISpoetry
'All Brackenbury's renowned qualities remain present in Thorpeness, such as her mastery of the lyric voice, her awareness of form, her ear for a line and her coupling of the natural and human world... Thorpeness invites the reader to reflect on how we face and express emotional truths in linguistic terms... a proper poet like Brackenbury never stops exploring and pushing their own boundaries.'

Matthew Stewart, Wild Court Poetry
'So many poems in this book begin with an item or a moment, flooding out to encompass a larger history. It's finely done, and Brackenbury proves again the enduring, treasure-like power of poetry, particularly by her expert pen.'

Mab Jones, Buzz Mag

'Thorpeness lays contemporary intonations across the patterns of folk song... Despite relishing past and present flavours, Brackenbury brings home the toughness of agricultural existence, rural poverty and life in service '

William Wootten, Literary Review

'Brackenbury's range as a poet continues to grow, just as her stanza forms become simpler and more pared-down. A growing engagement with inherited English culture allows her to question unspoken and given assumptions.'
M.C. Caseley, Agenda
'Brackenbury conjures a poetry that brings those frightening things into plain daylight, a poetry of the active life, of thrift and graft, of spirits that when pressed resort to sanity.'
John Bevis
'Brackenbury makes rhyming seem easy in work that is clever, controlled, eccentric and thoroughly British in both subject matter and tone.'
David Starkey, Santa Barbara Independent
'Brackenbury is a poet of strong feeling, deeply involved with her subject matter. That the work is cast with such craft and needs to do so little to draw attention to itself makes it all the more pleasurable.'
Jonathan Davidson, Poetry Review 'Alison Brackenbury's ninth collection of poems is a humble, often humorous, celebration of the everyday and the privileges of age.' - Harriet Barker, TLS 'It is her immediate response to the natural world happenings, the seasons, family and memories, and all life's incidentals that make her poems so easy to relate to.' - D. A. Prince, The North 'Alison Brackenbury loves, lives, hymns and rhymes the natural world and its people like no other poet.'
Gillian Clarke, National Poet of Wales

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Singing in the Dark Alison Brackenbury Categories: 21st Century, Women Imprint: Carcanet Poetry Publisher: Carcanet Press Available as: Paperback (96 pages) (Pub. Feb 2008) 9781857549140 Out of Stock Description Excerpt Author Reviews Open publication - Free publishing - More british poetry Alison Brackenbury's ballads for the modern world sing with a truth and directness that reach back through Edward Thomas and John Clare to the English folk-tradition itself. There are poems about birds and animals, the ancient rhythms of weather, landscape and season. The modern world is held in balance: terrorism, foreign war and domestic tension. At the centre of Singing in the Dark are lyrics from Alison Brackenbury's radio poems, from Edward Thomas' army songs to Nick Drake's guitar, Alison Brackenbury's book offers music for dark times. Alison Brackenbury was born in Lincolnshire in 1953.�She is descended from generations of skilled farm workers, including a dynasty of prize-winning shepherds. She won a scholarship to Oxford and left with a First in English. She then married and moved to a small town�in Gloucestershire, where she combined writing with horse-keeping, ... read more 'Filigreed with images of light and dark throughout, it's evocative, amusing and utterly compelling.' Frances Lass, Radio Times 'Glorious' Gillian Reynolds, Daily Telegraph 'Enchants' The Times Praise for Alison Brackenbury 'In her powerful new collection Alison Brackenbury includes some eloquent farewells, beautifully and formally rendered in her clear and individual voice... Life, danger, risk, sorrow, accident and foreboding are all brought to a pertinent focus here. The poet examines many types of darkness and lifeâs difficulties in her illuminant language, and her unrivalled ability for unobtrusive but perfect form is ever-present.' Penelope Shuttle, ARTEMISpoetry 'All Brackenbury's renowned qualities remain present in Thorpeness, such as her mastery of the lyric voice, her awareness of form, her ear for a line and her coupling of the natural and human world... Thorpeness invites the reader to reflect on how we face and express emotional truths in linguistic terms... a proper poet like Brackenbury never stops exploring and pushing their own boundaries.' Matthew Stewart, Wild Court Poetry 'So many poems in this book begin with an item or a moment, flooding out to encompass a larger history. It's finely done, and Brackenbury proves again the enduring, treasure-like power of poetry, particularly by her expert pen.' Mab Jones, Buzz Mag 'Thorpeness lays contemporary intonations across the patterns of folk song... Despite relishing past and present flavours, Brackenbury brings home the toughness of agricultural existence, rural poverty and life in service ' William Wootten, Literary Review 'Brackenbury's range as a poet continues to grow, just as her stanza forms become simpler and more pared-down. A growing engagement with inherited English culture allows her to question unspoken and given assumptions.' M.C. Caseley, Agenda 'Brackenbury conjures a poetry that brings those frightening things into plain daylight, a poetry of the active life, of thrift and graft, of spirits that when pressed resort to sanity.' John Bevis 'Brackenbury makes rhyming seem easy in work that is clever, controlled, eccentric and thoroughly British in both subject matter and tone.' David Starkey, Santa Barbara Independent 'Brackenbury is a poet of strong feeling, deeply involved with her subject matter. That the work is cast with such craft and needs to do so little to draw attention to itself makes it all the more pleasurable.' Jonathan Davidson, Poetry Review 'Alison Brackenbury's ninth collection of poems is a humble, often humorous, celebration of the everyday and the privileges of age.' - Harriet Barker, TLS 'It is her immediate response to the natural world happenings, the seasons, family and memories, and all life's incidentals that make her poems so easy to relate to.' - D. A. Prince, The North 'Alison Brackenbury loves, lives, hymns and rhymes the natural world and its people like no other poet.' Gillian Clarke, National Poet of Wales You might also be interested in: Under Storm's Wing Helen Thomas and Myfanwy Thomas The Shepherd's Calendar John Clare, Edited by Tim Chilcott Northborough Sonnets John Clare, Edited by Eric Robinson Edward Thomas's Poets Edward Thomas, Edited by Judy Kendall	Share this... Quick Links Carcanet Poetry Carcanet Classics Carcanet Fiction Carcanet Film Lives and Letters PN Review Video Carcanet Celebrates 50 Years! The Carcanet Blog One Little Room: Peter McDonald read more Collected Poems: Mimi Khalvati read more Invisible Dog: Fabio Morbito, translated by Richard Gwyn read more Dante's Purgatorio: Philip Terry read more Billy 'Nibs' Buckshot: John Gallas read more Emotional Support Horse: Claudine Toutoungi read more
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