To help readers engage fully with the T. S. Eliot Prize 2016 Shortlist, we asked poetry blogger and regular Eliot Prize reviewer John Field to explore the shortlisted titles.
In his review of Rachael Boast’s Void Studies, John Field writes, ‘Reading Void Sudies is a sensual, sensory joy. Like music, it has a simultaneity of effect and presents memory and desire with intoxicating immediacy and authenticity.’
‘[Void Studies] is an intense, rewarding experience’, he continues. ‘It’s best tackled in a few bursts – or even in a single reading – to best savour the restricted palette. To enjoy the connections between her archetypal images, it’s helpful to feel the musically rhythmic thrum of her images – doors, keys, moon and river – as they pulse from poem to poem.’
To read the full review of Void Studies, and John’s analyses of all of the collections shortlisted for the T. S. Eliot Prize, visit each of the shortlisted books pages for the 2016 Prize. John Field blogs at Poor Rude Lines.
