The Ghost Orchid

The Ghost Orchid

by Michael Longley (Author)

Synopsis

Following on from the remarkable riches of Gorse Fire, the poems brought together under the title The Ghost Orchid share some of the same concerns, but take many different approaches. Whether in the west of Ireland, Sissinghurst or the stone gardens of Japan; whether confronting the blood of the Iliad or the Odyssey or undergoing Ovidian metamorphoses; whether testing poetic form or renewing Ulster Scots dialect; whether in Buchenwald or Belfast, Longley speaks with pared delicacy, passion and huge vulnerability about love, life and death. A lyric craftsman of genius, Michael Longley has written a book that is fragile and exquisite - like the evanescent ghost orchid itself - yet full of tragic intensity; it is his finest achievement.

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More Information

Format: Paperback
Pages: 80
Edition: 1st edition
Publisher: Jonathan Cape
Published: 04 May 1995

ISBN 10: 0224041126
ISBN 13: 9780224041126
Book Overview: The magnificent new collection of poetry from the major Irish poet whose last book won the Whitbread Prize for Poetry.

Media Reviews
His work indicates one of the gifts of the major poet, of making the one life speak for all, and its corollary, of seeming to be able to speak to anyone. -- Sean O'Brien Michael Longley's affectionate metre, his clean-cut and lucid measure, is one of the most distinguished accomplishments in contemporary poetry. -- Douglas Dunn A keeper of the artistic estate, a custodian of grief and wonders. -- Seamus Heaney
Author Bio
Michael Longley was born in Belfast in 1939. He has recently retired from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland where he was Combined Arts Director. His previous collections include Poems 1963-83 and Gorse Fires, which won the 1991 Whitbread Poetry Award. He is married to the critic Edna Longley and they have three children.