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A Chorus of Ears

On 'the voice of the poem'
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A Chorus of Ears

By: Denise Riley
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About this listen

'Wondrous . . . one of the great poets of our time' – New Statesman

A Chorus of Ears is a series of essays on voice, lyric and the persona of the poet from one of the greatest living English poets. Originally delivered as a lecture series at Trinity College, Cambridge, in A Chorus of Ears Denise Riley meditates upon the emphasis we place upon the persona of the poet, relegating their actual poetry to a second-order importance. Prize culture and the primacy of the poet – as opposed to the poem – transform criticism into a beauty contest, constraining our ability to meet the lyric on its own terms.

What, Riley asks, might be discovered about the purpose of poetry, its originary point within our language and more yet besides, when we liberate it from the persona of the author? In allowing the poem to speak, what might we hear?

‘One of the most eloquent thinkers about our life in language’ – The Sunday Times

 Literary History & Criticism

Critic Reviews

Her strengths are so varied: notice one quality you admire, and another follows hard behind. Riley is an enormously gifted writer (Fiona Sampson)
She’s one of the best poets around (Andrew Motion, former Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom)
A terrific talent (Carol Ann Duffy, author of The World's Wife and former Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom)
One of the most eloquent thinkers about our life in language
She’s a poet whose work . . . never fails to convince new readers with its intelligence, wit and emotion
Wondrous . . . one of the great poets of our time
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