The Gypsy and the Poet

Description

Beginning with the real-life encounter between the poet John Clare and a Gypsy named Wisdom Smith, David Morley reinvigorates the sonnet sequence to stage the fellowship that develops between the two men. We see the Gypsy and the poet banter, argue and teach each other lessons; work, love, and lose what they have loved. The central section of the book enacts Clare's own belief in the creative forms of nature itself: 'I found the poems in the fields / And only wrote them down'.

David Morley is the cofounder of the writing program in the department of English and comparative literary studies at the University of Warwick. He is the author of "The Cambridge Introduction to Creative Writing" and the poetry collections "Enchantment," "The Invisible Kings," and "Scientific Papers." He has written for the "Guardian" and "Poetry Review" and is a recipient of the Templar Poetry Prize, an Arts Council of England Writers Award, an Eric Gregory Award, the Raymond Williams Prize, and a Hawthornden Fellowship.

""Enchantment" by David Morley is a linguistic feast." --Jonathan Bate, "Sunday Telegraph"