Carcanet Press - Collected Poems

Description
Excerpt
Author
Awards
Reviews

Wedding Morning

Down the church gravel where the bridal car
      Gleams at the gate among the waifs and strays
And women of Milewater, formal wear
      And fashion's joker hats wink in the breeze.

Past, the hushed progress under sprays of broom
      And choirs of altar lilies, when all eyes
Went brimming with her and the white-lipped groom
      Brought her to kneel beside him. Past, the sighs;

Ahead lies the gaiety of her father's hall
      Thrown open to the chatter of champagne,
The poised photographer, the flying veil,
      The motors crowded on the squandered lawn.

Down the bright gravel stroll the families
      With Blood, the trader, profiting in their peace.

from Downstream (1962) included in Collected PoemsI

Thomas Kinsella stands apart in modern Irish poetry. His work, employing traditional and modernist elements in individual poems and open sequences, deals in a range fo subjects from the most intense and psychic privacy to political satire and social commentary, from love and the enabling feminine to metaphysical speculation in a variety of earthly settings.

Thomas Kinsella �(1928-2021) was born in Dublin in 1928. He was educated at University College, Dublin and entered the Irish Civil Service before becoming a full-time writer and teach in the USA. He was the author of over thirty books of poetry and of essays, and editor of The New Oxford ... read more

Awards won by Thomas Kinsella Commended, 2007 Poetry Book Society
(Selected Poems)

Praise for Thomas Kinsella 'These are not poems to be read swiftly, relished once and set aside. They are often, for all their music, discomforting. Their uncertainties, questionings and images lure the reader to wonder and return.'
Kathleen Bell, Everybody's Reviewing
'Kinsella's lines are beautifully wrought, the stanzas gently rhymed, and the poet, in masterful style, at once delivers and undercuts the 'rhetoric' of beauty and consolation.'
Seán Hewitt, The Irish Times

'The most complex and multi-layered of the Peppercanister poems...taken with the 1968 and 1973 volumes and some of the earlier poems may comprise the most challenging, most achieved, and therefore most rewarding body of poetry from the British Isles over the past half-century.'
The Cambridge History of Irish Literature 'With unique memorability and force these poems, in the words of 'Belief and Unbelief', coax us to follow their author in search of understanding 'back to the dark / and the depths that I came from'. No one who cares about poetry should hesitate to embark on the journey.'
The Guardian

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Collected Poems Thomas Kinsella 10% off Paperback Imprint: Carcanet Poetry Publisher: Carcanet Press Available as: Hardback (Pub. Jan 2002) 9781857545746 Out of Stock Paperback (389 pages) (Pub. Oct 2001) 9781857545579 £25.00 £22.50 Hardback (382 pages) (Pub. Oct 2001) 9781857545739 Out of Stock Description Excerpt Author Awards Reviews Wedding Morning Down the church gravel where the bridal car Gleams at the gate among the waifs and strays And women of Milewater, formal wear And fashion's joker hats wink in the breeze. Past, the hushed progress under sprays of broom And choirs of altar lilies, when all eyes Went brimming with her and the white-lipped groom Brought her to kneel beside him. Past, the sighs; Ahead lies the gaiety of her father's hall Thrown open to the chatter of champagne, The poised photographer, the flying veil, The motors crowded on the squandered lawn. Down the bright gravel stroll the families With Blood, the trader, profiting in their peace. from Downstream (1962) included in Collected PoemsI Thomas Kinsella stands apart in modern Irish poetry. His work, employing traditional and modernist elements in individual poems and open sequences, deals in a range fo subjects from the most intense and psychic privacy to political satire and social commentary, from love and the enabling feminine to metaphysical speculation in a variety of earthly settings. Thomas Kinsella �(1928-2021) was born in Dublin in 1928. He was educated at University College, Dublin and entered the Irish Civil Service before becoming a full-time writer and teach in the USA. He was the author of over thirty books of poetry and of essays, and editor of The New Oxford ... read more Awards won by Thomas Kinsella Commended, 2007 Poetry Book Society (Selected Poems) Praise for Thomas Kinsella 'These are not poems to be read swiftly, relished once and set aside. They are often, for all their music, discomforting. Their uncertainties, questionings and images lure the reader to wonder and return.' Kathleen Bell, Everybody's Reviewing 'Kinsella's lines are beautifully wrought, the stanzas gently rhymed, and the poet, in masterful style, at once delivers and undercuts the 'rhetoric' of beauty and consolation.' Seán Hewitt, The Irish Times 'The most complex and multi-layered of the Peppercanister poems...taken with the 1968 and 1973 volumes and some of the earlier poems may comprise the most challenging, most achieved, and therefore most rewarding body of poetry from the British Isles over the past half-century.' The Cambridge History of Irish Literature 'With unique memorability and force these poems, in the words of 'Belief and Unbelief', coax us to follow their author in search of understanding 'back to the dark / and the depths that I came from'. No one who cares about poetry should hesitate to embark on the journey.' The Guardian	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 Not a Moment Too Soon: Frank Kuppner read more Coco Island: Christine Roseeta Walker read more that which appears: Thomas A Clark read more Come Here to This Gate: Rory Waterman read more Near-Life Experience: Rowland Bagnall read more The Silence: Gillian Clarke read more
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