
Imperium
Hilary Davies(Author)
Enitharmon Press
Published on 13. May 2005
Book
Paperback/Softback
64 pages
978-1-900564-19-9 (ISBN)
Description
"Imperium" opens with a high seriousness rare in contemporary poetry. Seven 'sacraments' - meditations on those moments at which the sacred can still touch our lives - are followed by nineteen sonnets dedicated to the 'dismembered spirit' of the poet's father. But the collection is dominated by the title poem, a fine successor to the historical sequences which distinguished Hilary Davies' last collection, "In a Valley of This Restless Mind". Using a range of voices and perspectives, she creates a narrative of the Napoleonic Wars, taking us from Chatham Docks to Aboukir, from a Glamorgan foundry to Trafalgar. Here and in the book's final sequence, 'Southwark', which swings between a prehistoric 'wattenmeer' and the London of 1958, then back to Roman times via a wonderfully riotous Elizabethan South Bank, Davies satisfies us both emotionally and intellectually, drawing from her historical sources a rich, invigorating music.
Reviews / Votes
hard and brilliantA...a fine, expansive freshness of soundA...marvellously astonishing.' - Christopher MiddletonMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
ISBN-13
978-1-900564-19-9 (9781900564199)
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Schweitzer Classification
Person
Hilary Davies was born in London of Anglo-Welsh parents. A Hawthornden fellow, Hilary Davies won the prestigious Eric Gregory Award for Young Poets and the Cheltenham/TLA poetry competition, and co-edited the poetry magazine ARGO for ten years. She read French and German at Oxford and is currently Head of Languages at St. Paul's Girls' School.