About the Book

A powerful new collection by the bestselling translator of "Beowulf."
"In the finland of perch, the fenland of alder, on air"
"That is water, on carpets of Bann stream, on hold"
"In the everything flows and steady go of the world."
--from "Perch"
Seamus Heaney's new collection travels widely in time and space, visiting the sites of the classical world and revisiting the poet's childhood: rural electrification and the light of ancient evenings are reconciled within the orbit of a single lifetime. This is a book about origins (not least, the origins of words) and oracles: the places where things start from, the ground of understanding -- whether in Arcadia or Anahorish, the sanctuary at Epidaurus or the Bann valley in County Derry.
"Electric Light" ranges from short takes to conversation poems. The pre-Socratic wisdom that everything flows is held in tension with the elegizing of friends and fellow poets. These gifts of recollection renew the poet's calling to assign things their proper names; once again Heaney can be heard extending his word hoard and roll call in this, his eleventh collection.

Product Details

Media: Hardcover Book, 144 pages

Language: English

Publisher: Farrar Straus Giroux (Apr. 30th, 2001)

ISBN-10: 0374146837

ISBN-13: 9780374146832

Dimensions: 5.70 x 8.52 x 0.57 inches

Shipping Weight: 0.55 lbs

• Categories: English Irish Scottish Welsh Poetry