A twisting, beguiling investigation into the art of poetry that ends in a call to arms on behalf of the natural world<\/p>\n
The poet Alice Oswald is no stranger to thinking in public about her art. She was Oxford professor of poetry until 2023, and her lectures are available online. But this is her first full-length book, and as such is something of an occasion.<\/p>\n
So what exactly is it? For a work of prose it contains a lot of poetry, much translated or composed by Oswald herself. Shakespeare, Donne, Shelley and Ted Hughes also feature. Though nonfiction, the book is full of stories, particularly retellings of Homer and Aeschylus. It is billed as \u201cgenre-defying\u201d and there is much formal experimentation. But at heart it is an exploration of the oral tradition, and the writer\u2019s own subtitle is A Manifesto, which feels exciting and urgent, pointed at the contemporary world with its pressing realities.<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/799158af6284ce1ca5c33fd3ec1e493989964c74\/0_0_3540_2832\/master\/3540.jpg?width=140&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=a73cb86532642f6a633730d37545b6af\" "\\"Rhapsody:")
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