Bøker av Penelope Shuttle

On her shelves Penelope Shuttle found several Old English dictionaries belonging to her late husband Peter Redgrove, which she studied until their strange and mysterious vocabulary found its way into a sequence of poetry. Here Shuttle's writing of animals, based upon a reading of a medieval mystery play about Noah and The Deluge, is connected and intertwined with current environmental concerns. The magic and richness of biblical stories is present as mythology rather than theology, and Noah sees Penelope Shuttle utilise the title character as a critique of patriarchal attitudes, particularly in regard to Emzara, Noah's wife. This is a remarkable work that brings the past into the present, and reimagines a better future.

Covid / Corvid by Alyson Hallett & Penelope Shuttle is an uplifting pamphlet of sonnets written in response to the pandemic. Hallett & Shuttle both allude to the natural world, using its vibrancy to contrast to the boredom and rigmarole of lockdown life. Their use of form is playful, tocking and tucking sonnets into various shapes and sizes. Covid / Corvid is an accessible pamphlet full of profound and clear-eyed poetry, unafraid to say "fuck lockdown blues".

The submerged land of Lyonesse was once part of Cornwall, according to myth, standing for a lost paradise in Arthurian legend, but becomes an emblem of human frailty in the face of climate change in Penelope Shuttle's new poems. The second part of the book, New Lamps for Old, is a collection of poems searching for meaning in life after bereavement.

Published on her 70th birthday, Shuttle's latest collection explores cities (London, Bristol) on foot and via inward exploration, drawing on architecture, history and personal memory.

Penelope Shuttle is one of Britain's leading poets. This selection - drawn from ten collections published over three decades plus new work - shows both her consistency of voice and her energised openness to language and to life.