Robin Robertson's first collection of poetry, A Painted Field,
published in 1997, was extremely well received, winning the Forward
prize for Best First Collection and the Saltire Society Scottish
Book of the Year Award, and this second collection has been eagerly
awaited. Though highly regarded - Andrew O'Hagan called him 'the
best new poet in Britain' - Robertson is not as generally well
known as the small group of poets who regularly turn up in the
media. This is to some extent explained by the challenging nature
of his poems and their lack of gimmicks. His work is both sparse
and lyrical; characterized by short lines, often grouped in pairs,
it depends on precise choice of words for the most telling effect.
Robertson's economy of expression makes the reader work to create
the meaning whch fills in the white spaces on the pages, often the
most satisfying form of poetry. Much of the subject matter begins
with depictions of the natural world, both visual and aural, in
poems such as 'Tryst', which reflects the hypersensitivity to
sights and sounds of someone waiting, but he also touches on the
interior and domestic, for example in 'Break', in which a woman
cuts herself while washing up. Three prose passages, 'Anxiety # 2,
3 and 5', represent a new departure, each one depicting a
disturbing scene, like a sequence from a nightmare. Some of the
poems, such as the group 'From the Jardin des Plantes', are based
on the work of Rilke, currently very popular in poetry circles,
while 'The Wood of the Suicides' is a version of Dante. Much of
Roberston's imagery is derived from nature but there are also
references to classical mythology, for example in 'Dream of the
Huntress'. These are graceful, luminous poems dealing with basic
emotions in a precise, sensitive way. (Kirkus UK)
Another powerful collection from the poet who launched the Picador poetry list, author of A Painted Field, which won the Forward Prize for Best First Collection. His main subject is his own detached, fierce, Scottish eye: on landscape and sea, on love, sex, violence. His use of language is deadpan, tense, precise, unforgiving.
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