Last
week, the Poetry Book Society in
the U.K. announced the winner of the 2014 T.S. Eliot Prize,
given to an original work published in English in Ireland and the United
Kingdom. It’s Britain’s most prestigious poetry award; this year, winning the
prize meant 20,000 pounds (about $35,000); the 10 shortlisted poets got 1,500
pounds. The T.S. Eliot Estate has become the sole sponsor of the prize.
This
year’s winner was David Harsent for Fire
Songs; this is also the fifth year Harsent has made the short list. The
competition was strong; seven of the nominees had been shortlisted for the
prize before, and three of them had actually one it. One of the three previous
winners was Hugo
Williams; he was nominated for the 2014 prize for I
Knew the Bride, his eleventh collection of poetry.
I
had just finished reading I Knew the
Bride when I read about the prize winners. If Harsent’s work could beat the
volume by Williams, it must be something extraordinary, because I Knew the Bride is marvelous.
To
continue reading, please see my post today at Tweetspeak
Poetry.
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