Synopses & Reviews
In this collection Jeanette Lynes’ follows in the tradition of Michael Ondaatje’s The Collected Works of Billy the Kid. In Bedlam Cowslip, she turns her attention to the life and work of John Clare, the great Victorian poet of the countryside, one of England’s greatest working-class bards. In these poems, the Romantic world of Clare, strewn with wild flowers and dizzy with birdsong, is visited by a new, postmodern voice, and the conversation that ensues across a dozen decades is profound and dazzling. Painstakingly researched and deftly crafted, the poems share Clare’s loves, ambitions, rages and failures. With lines that echo the sharpness of Dorothy Livesay and the richness of Roo Borson, Lynes writes of madness, scarce paper and of the intense attention Clare brought to his world.
Review
“In essence, Lynes is the Tina Fey of Canadian poetry. She’s at her best when combining the farcical with a sharp eye for the telling detail.... Though it revisits a historical period, there’s nothing dated about Archive of the Undressed: it’s smart, funny and relevant.” —Barbara Cary, The Toronto Star
Review
"Lynes builds lines of connection with the women she portrays. She presents them intimately, makes them so real they seem touchable—probably not unlike the way Playboy readers felt decades ago when they gazed upon the first centrefolds.” —Liz Worth, the Quill & Quire
Synopsis
Winner: 2016 Saskatchewan Arts Board Poetry Award
In this collection Jeanette Lynes' follows in the tradition of Michael Ondaatje's The Collected Works of Billy the Kid. In Bedlam Cowslip, she turns her attention to the life and work of John Clare, the great Victorian poet of the countryside, one of England's greatest working-class bards. In these poems, the Romantic world of Clare, strewn with wild flowers and dizzy with birdsong, is visited by a new, postmodern voice, and the conversation that ensues across a dozen decades is profound and dazzling. Painstakingly researched and deftly crafted, the poems share Clare's loves, ambitions, rages and failures. With lines that echo the sharpness of Dorothy Livesay and the richness of Roo Borson, Lynes writes of madness, scarce paper and of the intense attention Clare brought to his world.
About the Author
Jeanette Lynes is the author of six collections of poetry, including Archive of the Undressed, which was shortlisted for two Saskatchewan Book Awards. Her first novel, The Factory Voice, was longlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize. Jeanette directs the M.F.A. in Writing at the University of Saskatchewan.