A Chorus of Ears
On 'the voice of the poem'
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Pan Macmillan
Publishing:25th Jun '26
£12.99
This title is due to be published on 25th June, and will be despatched as soon as possible.
Originally delivered as a series of lectures at Trinity College, Cambridge, in A Chorus of Ears Denise Riley meditates upon the emphasis we place upon the persona of the poet, relegating their actual poetry to a second-order importance. Prize culture and the primacy of the poet – as opposed to the poem – transform criticism into a beauty contest, constraining our ability to meet the lyric on its own terms.
What, Riley asks, might be discovered about the purpose of poetry, its originary point within our language and more yet besides, when we liberate it from the persona of the author? In allowing the poem to speak, what might we hear?
‘One of the most eloquent thinkers about our life in language’ – The Sunday Times
Her strengths are so varied: notice one quality you admire, and another follows hard behind. Riley is an enormously gifted writer -- Fiona Sampson * The Guardian *
She’s one of the best poets around -- Andrew Motion, former Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom
A terrific talent -- Carol Ann Duffy, author of The World's Wife and former Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom
One of the most eloquent thinkers about our life in language * The Sunday Times *
She’s a poet whose work . . . never fails to convince new readers with its intelligence, wit and emotion * The Times *
ISBN: 9781035095964
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: unknown
144 pages