Startlement
New and Collected Poems
Published on 5. March 2026
Book
Hardback
224 pages
978-1-4721-6065-2 (ISBN)
Description
'I marvel at Ada Limon's ability to weave on the page her playfulness and wisdom. Her lyricism dances. This is the poetry of a tender and compassionate human' Joan Baez
'Startlement is a book of rare treasures. With lyrical mastery and intimate storytelling, Limon's poetry reveals new ways of paying attention. This powerful collection is a gift' Amy Tan
'Ada Limon is a bright light in a dark time' Vanity Fair
'Limon is a poet of ecstatic revelation' Tracy K. Smith, Guardian
Drawing from six previously published books - including widely acclaimed collections The Hurting Kind, The Carrying, and Bright Dead Things - as well as introducing vibrant new work, Startlement exalts the mysterious. With a tender curiosity, Ada Limon wades into potent unknowns - the strangeness of our brief human lives, the ever-changing nature of the universe - and emerges each time with new revelations about our place in the world.
Both a lush overview of her work and a powerful narrative of a poet's life, this curation embodies Limon's capacity for 'deep attention,' her 'power to open us up to the wonder and awe that the world still inspires' (New York Times). From the chaos of youthful desire, to the waxing of love and loss, to the precarity of our environment, to the stars and beyond, Limon's poetry bears witness to the arc of all we know with patient lyricism and humble wonder.
'A poet of ecstatic revelation' (Tracy K. Smith), Limon encourages us to meet our shared futures with open and hungry hearts, assuring 'What we are becoming, we are / becoming together.'
'Startlement is a book of rare treasures. With lyrical mastery and intimate storytelling, Limon's poetry reveals new ways of paying attention. This powerful collection is a gift' Amy Tan
'Ada Limon is a bright light in a dark time' Vanity Fair
'Limon is a poet of ecstatic revelation' Tracy K. Smith, Guardian
Drawing from six previously published books - including widely acclaimed collections The Hurting Kind, The Carrying, and Bright Dead Things - as well as introducing vibrant new work, Startlement exalts the mysterious. With a tender curiosity, Ada Limon wades into potent unknowns - the strangeness of our brief human lives, the ever-changing nature of the universe - and emerges each time with new revelations about our place in the world.
Both a lush overview of her work and a powerful narrative of a poet's life, this curation embodies Limon's capacity for 'deep attention,' her 'power to open us up to the wonder and awe that the world still inspires' (New York Times). From the chaos of youthful desire, to the waxing of love and loss, to the precarity of our environment, to the stars and beyond, Limon's poetry bears witness to the arc of all we know with patient lyricism and humble wonder.
'A poet of ecstatic revelation' (Tracy K. Smith), Limon encourages us to meet our shared futures with open and hungry hearts, assuring 'What we are becoming, we are / becoming together.'
Reviews / Votes
I marvel at Ada Limon's ability to weave on the page her playfulness and wisdom. Her lyricism dances. This is the poetry of a tender and compassionate human -- Joan Baez, singer-songwriter and author of When You See My Mother, Ask Her to Dance Startlement is a book of rare treasures. With lyrical mastery and intimate storytelling, Limon's poetry reveals new ways of paying attention. This powerful collection is a gift -- Amy Tan, author of The Backyard Bird Chronicles Ada Limon is a bright light in a dark time * Vanity Fair * Limon is a poet of ecstatic revelation. Her poetry [...] leads you to the beautiful bright mountaintop of language, then guides you gently down into the rocky valleys of a conscious human heart -- Tracy K. Smith * Guardian * I can always rely on an Ada Limon poem to give me hope, but Limon's poems don't give us the kind of facile Hallmark hope; rather, her hope is hard-earned, even laced with grief or happiness. . . . Limon is a master at making a simple idea (that of hindsight, seeing the bright side of things) askew. 'And so I have / two brains now,' she writes. 'Two entirely different brains.' Limon gives us two brains in her poems too, revealing new ways to view the world -- Victoria Chang * New York Times Magazine * [Ada Limon] is one of my all-time favorite writers, someone whose work I return to again and again for solace, inspiration, and truth * The Atlantic *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Little, Brown Book Group
Product notice
Trade binding
Dimensions
Height: 220 mm
Width: 147 mm
Thickness: 25 mm
Weight
341 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-4721-6065-2 (9781472160652)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Person
Ada Limon is the twenty-fourth Poet Laureate of the United States. She is the editor of the You Are Here anthology and the author of five collections of poems, including The Carrying, which won the National Book Critics Circle Award and was named a finalist for the PEN/Jean Stein Book Award and Bright Dead Things, which was named a finalist for the National Book Award, the National Book Critics Circle Award, and the Kingsley Tufts Award. She's also the author of the picture book In Praise of Mystery based on the poem engraved on NASA's Europa Clipper. Limon is a MacArthur Fellow, the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, and was named a TIME Woman of the Year. Her work has appeared in the New Yorker, the New York Times, and American Poetry Review. She lives in Glen Ellen, California.