Ruin, Blossom Fourth Person Singular political and aesthetic liberty

political and aesthetic liberty

‘a massive song sung / at the port'

The Anathemata is more obviously a poem

Shaped prose is a form that works the "little edges" of lyric and discourse

Ruin, Blossom Fourth Person Singular political and aesthetic libertyJohn Burnside In this powerful, moving book, John Burnside takes his cue from Schiller, who recognised that, as one thing fades, so another flourishes: everywhere and always, in matters great and small, new life blossoms amongst the ruins. Here, in poems that explore ageing, mortality, environmental destruction and mental illness, Burnside not only mourns what is lost in passing, but also celebrates the new, and sometimes unexpected, forms that emerge