Book description
Many of the poems in Sean O'Brien's new collection take their emotional
tenor and imaginative cue from his acclaimed translation of Dante's
Inferno, and occupy a dark, flooded, subterranean world, as dramatically
compelling as it is disquieting. Circumstances have compelled O'Brien to
return repeatedly to the elegiac form, and The Drowned Book contains a
number of powerfully moving poems written in memory of fellow poets and
artists. The Drowned Book again shows O'Brien a master of the
authoritative line, and underscores his pre-eminence among contemporary
English poets. Praise for Sean O'Brien's verse translation of Dante's
Inferno: 'Compelling, with a steady incandescence to the language'
Independent 'All life is written in Dante's burning pages, and Sean
O'Brien is to be congratulated on his expert rehabilitation of a
classic' Spectator 'Combines urgent readability with a muscular
forcefulness' The Economist
Sean O'Brien is a poet, critic, playwright, broadcaster, anthologist
and editor. He grew up in Hull and now lives in Newcastle upon Tyne;
he is Professor of Poetry at Sheffield Hallam University and teaches
on the MA Writing course. His five collections of poetry to date have
all won awards, most recently Downriver (Picador, 2001), which
won the Forward Prize for best collection. In 2002 Cousin Coat:
Selected Poems 1976-2001 was published by Picador. His book of essays
on contemporary poetry, The Deregulated Muse (Bloodaxe), was
published in 1998, as was his acclaimed anthology The Firebox:
Poetry In Britain And Ireland After 1945 (Picador). His most
recent work is a verse translation of Dante's Inferno, which
Picador published in 2006.
