T S Eliot prize

[Ros]

http://www.poetrybooks.org.uk/

Extracts from all the shortlisted works - anyone want to make a guess as to the winner? and why?

Simon Armitage - The Death of King Arthur (Faber)
Sean Borodale - Bee Journal (Cape)
Gillian Clarke - Ice (Carcanet)
Julia Copus - The World's Two Smallest Humans (Faber)
Paul Farley - The Dark Film (Picador)
Jorie Graham - P L A C E (Carcanet)
Kathleen Jamie - The Overhaul (Picador)
Sharon Olds - Stag's Leap (Cape)
Jacob Polley - The Havocs (Picador)
Deryn Rees-Jones - Burying the Wren (Seren)

[David]

I haven't read any of these! I'll have a look at the extracts. Good idea, Ros.

[Antcliff]

Arragh..Ros. I have not read any of them. I therefore do not feel I am in the ideal position for a stab at judging..

[Ros]

Arragh..Ros. I have not read any of them. I therefore do not feel I am in the ideal position for a stab at judging..

That's what the link is for - there are a couple of poems there from each poet. We could have discussion based just on those (I'm not suggesting anyone buys every book).

[Vincent Turner]

Read the extracts.

Not sure who I think the winner will be, but in terms of personal enjoyment I would go with Julia Opus ( whose book I have just ordered) and Deryn Rees-Jones, I also admired the scope of Sean Borodales work- Bee Journal.

Look forward to hearing the result.

thanks for the post

Vincent

[stuartryder]

Simon Armitage might win for being on the telly and from Yorkshire. Sean Borodale might win for not being famous enough to be on wikipedia.com. Gillian Clarke might win because she's with Carcanet. Julia Copus might win for being self-obsessed. Paul Farley might win for writing about photography. Jorie Graham might win for having an made-up name and a conceited book title. Kathleen Jamie might win for having a surname that's a boy's christian name. Sharon Olds might win for having "had these poems thrown at her by life and allowed them to take root". Jacob Polley might win for sounding like a character from a 19th century English novel. And Deryn Rees-Jones stands a good chance for being both Welsh AND having a double-barrel name.

Mind you, I'm slightly surprised that none of the entrants has either a middle name or initial plugged unnecessarily into their official pseuds.

Stuart

http://www.poetrybooks.org.uk/

Extracts from all the shortlisted works - anyone want to make a guess as to the winner? and why?

Simon Armitage - The Death of King Arthur (Faber)
Sean Borodale - Bee Journal (Cape)
Gillian Clarke - Ice (Carcanet)
Julia Copus - The World's Two Smallest Humans (Faber)
Paul Farley - The Dark Film (Picador)
Jorie Graham - P L A C E (Carcanet)
Kathleen Jamie - The Overhaul (Picador)
Sharon Olds - Stag's Leap (Cape)
Jacob Polley - The Havocs (Picador)
Deryn Rees-Jones - Burying the Wren (Seren)

[Ros]

You sound very jaundiced, Stuart.
I wonder if the prize will continue now Mrs TS has died?

Ros

[Antcliff]

I had no idea Mrs TS had still been alive.

[Ros]

I had no idea Mrs TS had still been alive.

Apparently so, and dishing out the £15000 personally (more or less) each year. So it may stop, unless she's endowed it or something.

[David]

I've been reading the winner - http://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/j ... etry-prize - and I have to say: I'm very impressed.

[Ros]

I've been reading the winner - http://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/j ... etry-prize - and I have to say: I'm very impressed.

Sharon Olds? I heard her read from this, and discuss the poems, and she was very compelling. But ultimately not so much my kind of poetry - too confessional. And those odd US line breaks.

Ros

[Antcliff]

I was given the Olds as an Xmas present, but since, like Ros, I rather find confessional poetry snoozy on the whole, I may have unfairly tossed it. Someone had told me it was about her divorce? Or does it have a more interesting subject matter?

Seth

[David]

Sharon Olds? I heard her read from this, and discuss the poems, and she was very compelling. But ultimately not so much my kind of poetry - too confessional. And those odd US line breaks.

I was given the Olds as an Xmas present, but since, like Ros, I rather find confessional poetry snoozy on the whole, I may have unfairly tossed it. Someone had told me it was about her divorce? Or does it have a more interesting subject matter?

It is about the divorce, but I don't think it's confessional, unless that has meanings I'm not aware of. She's not actually confessing to anything. (Perhaps I'm being simplistic.) But it's personal and compelling. So far! (One poem a night.)

I will report if disappointment or boredom sets in.

[k-j]

(One poem a night.)

Maybe that is the best way to read poetry. Never occurred to me before but I'm going to give it a try. Maybe this is why I'm so often left strangely unsatisfied by reading poetry - maybe I'm reading it too quickly.

[Antcliff]

Maybe this is why I'm so often left strangely unsatisfied by reading poetry - maybe I'm reading it too quickly.

I'm inclined to agree. I seem to repeat this process....quickly read a mag when it arrives, conclude that the edition is not so strong, put it down, later decide to give it a second try, notice a lot I missed.........................end up thinking that the edition is quite strong. In fact it happens with almost all magazines. Moral: stop it with the quick, skimming reading Seth!

Seth

[Antcliff]

Okay, I have now found my copy of Stag's Leap, which had been buried since last Xmas. Which ones did you like, David?

Seth

[David]

Okay, I have now found my copy of Stag's Leap, which had been buried since last Xmas. Which ones did you like, David?

Strangely enough (so far), the ones at the start. I seem to be experiencing the law of diminishing returns. I really liked the book at first, found it fresh and honest and saying hard things extremely well, but it's starting to cloy more than a bit now. Almost as though she's wallowing in it. Completely unfair, I'm sure.

Still only about a third of the way through.