Over the past three years Alice Oswald has been recording conversations with people who live and work on the River Dart in Devon. Using these records and voices as a sort of poetic census, she creates a narrative of the river, tracking its life from source to sea. The voices are wonderfully varied and idiomatic - they include a poacher, a ferryman, a sewage worker and milk worker, a forester, swimmers and canoeists - and are interlinked with historic and mythic voices: drowned voices, dreaming voices and marginal notes which act as markers along the way.
Dart
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'The Thing in the Gap-Stone Stile seductively commands delighted attention. In an age where "nature" poetry and spirituality are unfashionable, it is always exciting when someone does the job with panache and without being boring.' Guardian
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One of six wonderful collections published in celebration of Faber's rich poetry heritage.
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
By Sbo
Format:Paperback
"Dart" is made of one single 48-page long poem. But what poem!
Alice Oswald recorded many conversations she had with those who live and work on or near Dart River (in Devon). She used their voices, dialects, expressions, pleating them into this long multi-faceted text.
The resulting text is a mix of prose poetry rendering carefully selected and adjusted spoken language (the text never sounds as if it was the simple transcription of taped conversations) and quite lyrical poetry in stanzas.
It changes rhythm, tone, is rich in alliterations and plays on sounds. "Dart" refers to local people as well as to characters form the Greco-roman mythology.
The fact the poem goes on over 48 pages gives it a flowing quality, which cleverly suggests a river. Since the Dart is very short, most of the river is affected by the nearby sea's tides, and the mentioned animals, birds and fish can be either fluvial or marine.
Alice Oswald has managed to stitch sections end to end with almost invisible seams. She just changes subjects, makes them flow into each other.
This is a radically atypical piece, a long, creative journey into a world of water and words.
Alice Oswald recorded many conversations she had with those who live and work on or near Dart River (in Devon). She used their voices, dialects, expressions, pleating them into this long multi-faceted text.
The resulting text is a mix of prose poetry rendering carefully selected and adjusted spoken language (the text never sounds as if it was the simple transcription of taped conversations) and quite lyrical poetry in stanzas.
It changes rhythm, tone, is rich in alliterations and plays on sounds. "Dart" refers to local people as well as to characters form the Greco-roman mythology.
The fact the poem goes on over 48 pages gives it a flowing quality, which cleverly suggests a river. Since the Dart is very short, most of the river is affected by the nearby sea's tides, and the mentioned animals, birds and fish can be either fluvial or marine.
Alice Oswald has managed to stitch sections end to end with almost invisible seams. She just changes subjects, makes them flow into each other.
This is a radically atypical piece, a long, creative journey into a world of water and words.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
By Sentinel
TOP 500 REVIEWER
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
Does the music of language enchant you? How about good quality artwork, or sensitive, tasteful presentation? Yes: then this book is for you. Alice Oswald takes fragments of conversations from those who haunt the river, from its tinkling upper reaches, to the shadowy depths of the mature river. The 'song' is made up of a rich variety of individual viewpoints, whether they be walkers, fishermen or poachers, and they gradually build together into a 'patchwork quilt' of the river, whose own song runs as a steady chorus linking all the pieces together. The human actors are only one small part of the play, for all the wildlife actors, from dragonflies and kingfishers to otters and salmon, make their own contribution. Oswald manages to convey a richly visual picture with relatively sparse and unsensational prose, but the song which bubbles so bewitchingly out of these apparently ordinary ingredients reveals her total mastery of the medium. A deserved prize-winner, and a strongly recommended book to improve the quality of your life: simply open the first page, and let the words and illustrations take you on a trip downriver shot-through with magic.
12 of 13 people found the following review helpful
By TS Miers
Format:Paperback
I am surprised there are no other reviews for this as it is such a beautiful and inspiring book. I am an artist and it has transformed a new project (now in early stages).
The language is musical and evocative and makes you long to explore some of the places it describes (yes even at five in the morning with the moon shrouded in mist).
The whole book is one long piece, written in such an original and descriptive format, you feel a complete empathy with the river itself. I hear she turned down the post of Poet Laureate, an offer that she well deserved. Total respect!
The language is musical and evocative and makes you long to explore some of the places it describes (yes even at five in the morning with the moon shrouded in mist).
The whole book is one long piece, written in such an original and descriptive format, you feel a complete empathy with the river itself. I hear she turned down the post of Poet Laureate, an offer that she well deserved. Total respect!
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Read it in one sitting
Alice Oswald's second book, Dart, is a 48 page long poem in the voice of the river Dart as it flows from its source to the sea. Read more
Published 12 days ago by impeus
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good choice for a book club
As a poet myself I enjoyed this book. For a start it's a great idea for a poem, following a river from its source to the sea, and bringing in the people who use the river, or who... Read more
Published 1 month ago by zizzie
5.0 out of 5 stars
Beautiful
This is a wonderful book.
I am from Devon and have spent my life growing up around the Dart and this makes my heart ache with those memories. Read more
I am from Devon and have spent my life growing up around the Dart and this makes my heart ache with those memories. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Lara
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great poem enhanced by an interesting cover
Alice Oswald spent a residency at Dartington and based this long poem on research and talking to Dartside folk. She is not sentimental and has a keen eye for nature. Read more
Published 10 months ago by Amjenmary
5.0 out of 5 stars
dart
This was a gift which was received with great enthusiasm, it is being enjoyed fully by a gentleman who has strong links, WWII and otherwise, with the River Dart. Very succcessful.
Published 20 months ago by Janey
5.0 out of 5 stars
Brilliantly ambitious poetry of a river and its people...
Somewhat unlike Oswald's other poetry, A Sleepwalk on the Severn excepted, Dart is a poem as long and winding as the river itself. Read more
Published on 23 Feb 2011 by LittleMoon
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Poetic Voice of a River
I live within a few miles of the Dart, the river that gives its name to Dartmoor, Dartington and Dartmouth, yet to discover Alice Oswald's poetic celebration of this watercourse... Read more
Published on 20 Sep 2010 by Lost John
4.0 out of 5 stars
Wowza! But...
There's a limited amount you can enjoy a book about South Devon. They have cities down there, abundant public and private services, a sophisticated infrastructure and no... Read more
Published on 6 Jun 2010 by Stuart Weir
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