Peter Redgrove: Collected Poems

Last year on this blog I posted an internet round-up of links to poems, articles, and interviews in order to introduce more readers to the late British poet Peter Redgrove, who has become a personal favourite.

Jonathan Cape has done the poetry world a great service in publishing this timely edition of Redgrove's Collected Poems. While Redgrove was never as widely read in his lifetime as some of his more notorious contemporaries -- like Ted Hughes and Philip Larkin, for example -- Redgrove's singular, idiosyncratic genius is worthy of favourable comparison to any of the best-loved poets of his generation.

I have hope -- and confidence -- that the publication of this much-needed book will help Redgrove finally find a wide and eager readership among poetry enthusiasts of all ages. For a primer, my round up will give you a starting point, but Redgrove's body of work is so immense, varied and rich, that the Collected Poems is really, now that it exists, the best place to start. It's a treasure trove of vibrant, daring writing, at once a literary thrill and a necessary resource.

To whet your appetite, read the haunting, challenging poem called "From the Answers to Job" and a handful of others from his 1977 collection From Every Chink in the Ark. I suspect you'll be hooked.