Vivid Encounters with Insects in Glass Wings
“It takes just four lines for ‘Alumnae Notes’ to transport us first to the schoolgirl in 40s New Zealand and then to her literary exile in London: ‘Beautiful Ataneta Swainson is dead….
Tag Archives: Fleur Adcock
Migratory musings
Fleur Adcock’s Dragon Talk, her first poetry volume since 1997’s Looking Back — which explored “part of the poet’s wider enquiry into geographical and cultural displacement” — is reviewed by British poet Julian Stannard…
Perchance for professor
Auckland-born poet Fleur Adcock is one of eight names being discussed by the Oxford University English faculty to take up the position of professor of poetry when current incumbent Christopher Ricks comes to the…
Epilogue Written to a Life of Words
NZ lost one of its edgiest inhabitants with the death of Janet Frame from acute myeloid leukemia on January 29. Frame, the author of 11 novels, 5 collections of short stories, a poetry collection,…
Kiss and tell
British politician John Prescott retains the edge bestowed by his starring role in New Zealander Fleur Adcock’s 1996 poem: “Our eyes had locked/we were leaning avidly forwards/lips out thrust…”
Poetic shock tactics
An extensive Guardian profile of New Zealand poet Fleur Adcock that elaborates on everything from her OBE, the end of her muse, her relationship with Barry Crump (“New Zealand’s answer to George Best or…
Looking Down: Fleur Adcock reaps poetic insight from the fringe
“Strangers are good for us, they help us see ourselves in unfamiliar ways. They take slightly different routes across our wearisomely footslogged home turf.” poetry is acute, intelligent, fastidious, sceptical, often disturbingly funny….
“When all at once I saw a crowd”
Fleur Adcock gives poetic tribute to bard of the Lakes On the 150th Anniversary of William Wordsworth’s death, New Zealand-born poet Fleur Adcock has been chosen to unveil a plaque amongst the Easter daffodils…
The truth about bed: Fleur Adcock: Poems 1960-2000
“This very welcome collection of her verse confirms her status as arguably the most distinctive writer to have come out of New Zealand since Katherine Mansfield.”
