Landscape from a Dream
Book
Paperback/Softback
84 pages
978-1-905700-62-2 (ISBN)
Description
"Landscape from a Dream" is Elisabeth Bletsoe's first collection in ten years and offers startling evidence of a powerful voice that should be better known. Very much a poet of place, Elisabeth Bletsoe fuses elements of folklore, botany, literature, myth and narrative into a poetry that is at once feminist in spirit, forthright, and - to a certain extent - at odds with the prevailing poetic styles in Britain, whether conservative or radical. Rooted in the landscape of her native Dorset, this is poetry of deep observation, but also a poetry in which she gives voice to some of Thomas Hardy's heroines - not just Tess Durbeyfield, but lesser-known characters such as Marty South from The Woodlanders - characters who are much a part of this Dorset landscape as Bletsoe's poetry. And the voices they gain are not the voices in Hardy's narratives, but strong, independent voices that have thrown off their creator.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Exeter
United Kingdom
Dimensions
Height: 216 mm
Width: 140 mm
Thickness: 5 mm
Weight
119 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-905700-62-2 (9781905700622)
Copyright in bibliographic data is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or its licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Elisabeth Bletsoe was born and raised near Wimborne in Dorset; having been taught to read at an early age, she developed a love for the myths, legends and folklore of many cultures. After working for some time with learning disadvantaged adults she went to Cardiff University to study psychology where she also learned Welsh and Classical studies. During her time as a postgraduate, teaching both undergraduate psychology at the University and Women's Studies at the Extramural department, she joined the poetry performance group Cabaret 246 which had been instigated by the poet Chris Torrance. After several years reading in jazz clubs and the city's Chapter Art Centre, she co-founded, with Gill Brightmore, the women's performance group Deadlier than the Male, which provided an alternative to the male-dominated culture that prevailed in S. Wales at that time. During one of her solo readings, she met the publisher of Odyssey Poets Press, Derrick Woolf, who subsequently produced three of her works. In the early 90s she obtained a history degree, studied the Russian language, taught a creative writing course in the Vale of Glamorgan and was published widely in a range of small press magazines in Britain as well as the USA, Japan, Estonia and Argentina. In 1995 she returned to Dorset where she now lives with the writer and translator Ian Taylor. She has continued to pursue her interests in plant medicines and is currently training to be a homeopath, while also being involved with the administration of Sherborne Museum. Her work is informed by her knowledge of botany, folklore, geology and history.