Was it for this

by Hannah Sullivan | 04 January 2024
PAPERBACK
Hannah Sullivan's first collection, Three Poems, won the T. S. Eliot Prize and the inaugural John Pollard International Poetry Prize. Was It for This continues that book's project, offering a trenchant exploration of the ways in which we attempt to map our lives in space and time. But there is also the wider, collective experience to contend with, the upheaval of historic event and present disaster. 'Tenants', the first poem, is an elegy for Grenfell, written from the uneasy perspective of a new mother living a few streets away. Elsewhere, from the terraces and precincts of seventies and eighties London to the late-at-night decks of American suburbs, intimately inhabited geographies provide reference points and sites for revisiting. Nothing is too small or unlovely to be transfixed by the poet's attention, from the thin concrete pillars of a flyover to an elderly peacock's broken train. There is a memorialising strain in the forensic accumulation of detail, but there is also celebration, a keen sense of holding on to and cherishing what we can. 'Rare, sympathetic, exceptionally readable.' Kate Kellaway, Observer Poetry Book of the Month 'Was it For This is a tour de force that fulfils its own powerful desire on the page.' Martina Evans, Irish Times 'Hannah Sullivan's poetry is exceptional in the specificity and candour with which it draws on autobiography and retrospection.' Stephen Knight, Literary Review
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Hannah Sullivan's first collection, Three Poems, won the T. S. Eliot Prize and the inaugural John Pollard International Poetry Prize. Was It for This continues that book's project, offering a trenchant exploration of the ways in which we attempt to map our lives in space and time. But there is also the wider, collective experience to contend with, the upheaval of historic event and present disaster. 'Tenants', the first poem, is an elegy for Grenfell, written from the uneasy perspective of a new mother living a few streets away. Elsewhere, from the terraces and precincts of seventies and eighties London to the late-at-night decks of American suburbs, intimately inhabited geographies provide reference points and sites for revisiting. Nothing is too small or unlovely to be transfixed by the poet's attention, from the thin concrete pillars of a flyover to an elderly peacock's broken train. There is a memorialising strain in the forensic accumulation of detail, but there is also celebration, a keen sense of holding on to and cherishing what we can. 'Rare, sympathetic, exceptionally readable.' Kate Kellaway, Observer Poetry Book of the Month 'Was it For This is a tour de force that fulfils its own powerful desire on the page.' Martina Evans, Irish Times 'Hannah Sullivan's poetry is exceptional in the specificity and candour with which it draws on autobiography and retrospection.' Stephen Knight, Literary Review
In stock online
Extended Range: Delivery In 2-3 Working Days
Free delivery on this item
56 Reward Points

Any purchases for more than €10 are eligible for free delivery anywhere in the UK or Ireland!

€18.85
In stock online
Extended Range: Delivery In 2-3 Working Days
Free delivery on this item
56 Reward Points

Any purchases for more than €10 are eligible for free delivery anywhere in the UK or Ireland!

Product Description

Hannah Sullivan's first collection, Three Poems, won the T. S. Eliot Prize and the inaugural John Pollard International Poetry Prize. Was It for This continues that book's project, offering a trenchant exploration of the ways in which we attempt to map our lives in space and time. But there is also the wider, collective experience to contend with, the upheaval of historic event and present disaster. 'Tenants', the first poem, is an elegy for Grenfell, written from the uneasy perspective of a new mother living a few streets away. Elsewhere, from the terraces and precincts of seventies and eighties London to the late-at-night decks of American suburbs, intimately inhabited geographies provide reference points and sites for revisiting. Nothing is too small or unlovely to be transfixed by the poet's attention, from the thin concrete pillars of a flyover to an elderly peacock's broken train. There is a memorialising strain in the forensic accumulation of detail, but there is also celebration, a keen sense of holding on to and cherishing what we can. 'Rare, sympathetic, exceptionally readable.' Kate Kellaway, Observer Poetry Book of the Month 'Was it For This is a tour de force that fulfils its own powerful desire on the page.' Martina Evans, Irish Times 'Hannah Sullivan's poetry is exceptional in the specificity and candour with which it draws on autobiography and retrospection.' Stephen Knight, Literary Review

About the Author

Product Details

ISBN9780571362288

FormatPAPERBACK

PublisherFABER & FABER (04 January. 2024)

No. of Pages112

Weight140

Language English

Dimensions 198 x 132 x 9

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