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Beyond This Dark House
Before Guy Gavriel Kay became known for his groundbreaking works of speculative fiction he was an accomplished poet, his work appearing in major literary journals such as The Antigonish Review and Prism . Through the years, while writing his dramatic international bestsellers, Kay has continued to quietly explore the paths and boundaries of poetry as well.
Now for the first time, Guy Gavriel Kay's poetry has been gathered and selected for publication.
Readers of contemporary poetry will be captivated by the exquisite craft and power of these poems. Some are ironic and austere, slyly tracing the interplay of writer and world, present and past; others are sensual, even erotic, charting the mercurial but abiding nature of passion-in love, in language, in history.
Now for the first time, Guy Gavriel Kay's poetry has been gathered and selected for publication.
Readers of contemporary poetry will be captivated by the exquisite craft and power of these poems. Some are ironic and austere, slyly tracing the interplay of writer and world, present and past; others are sensual, even erotic, charting the mercurial but abiding nature of passion-in love, in language, in history.
120 pages, Hardcover
First published September 1, 2002
17 people are currently reading
997 people want to read
About the author
Guy Gavriel Kay
43 books9,276 followersGuy Gavriel Kay is a Canadian author of fantasy fiction. Many of his novels are set in fictional realms that resemble real places during real historical periods, such as Constantinople during the reign of Justinian I or Spain during the time of El Cid. Those works are published and marketed as historical fantasy, though the author himself has expressed a preference to shy away from genre categorization when possible.
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Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
November 30, 2014
Ah, this collection reminds me that I should be reading more poetry. Not that it was exactly what I was expecting. And not that I wasn't just a little disappointed that there wasn't a little more spec. But the poetry is great, the images impacting, and the flow amazing. I'm a bid fan of Kay, and I've always admired the poetry that he put into his work. Much of the time, after all, poetry is important to the novels he writes. It comes up in Tigana, and much more prominently in The Lions of Al-Rassan and Under Heaven. And here are some poems not from characters but from the man himself, writing much more about this place and time, about longing and loss, and it is a joy to read.
There are some themes that resonate in these poems, longing being the biggest one. Someone being absent, far away, perhaps dead or perhaps lost to time or any number of other possibilities. But there is that, of a man walking or driving some lonely place and feeling that pull back toward something familiar, someone familiar. It's a very human thing, and the poems as a whole were things I could relate with. The images, the places that the poems went, are rendered well and evoke powerful emotions and feelings. As someone who has not traveled far, it was interesting to read the poems painting a picture of these places.
Of course, there was a part of me that wanted more like from his books, more speculative works. What is there works, and I probably liked those best, when I started to evoke mythology and ideas like that and tie them back to life, to feelings. There was definitely a lot to sift through in these poems, and while not many of them were what I would really call fun they were fascinating to read. If I had to assign a season to them it would be autumn, that sense of slight decay and the looming threat of winter. There is hope, to be sure, and a beauty that doesn't exist in other times, but also a melancholy that lingers.
All told, I really enjoyed the poems. I wanted more. I wanted, perhaps, some of those he wrote for novels included, but I'm sure rights on that would be confusing and they probably would only foul up the overall feel of this collection. It was powerful and made me want to read more poetry. So it succeeded in that, and earns an 8/10.
There are some themes that resonate in these poems, longing being the biggest one. Someone being absent, far away, perhaps dead or perhaps lost to time or any number of other possibilities. But there is that, of a man walking or driving some lonely place and feeling that pull back toward something familiar, someone familiar. It's a very human thing, and the poems as a whole were things I could relate with. The images, the places that the poems went, are rendered well and evoke powerful emotions and feelings. As someone who has not traveled far, it was interesting to read the poems painting a picture of these places.
Of course, there was a part of me that wanted more like from his books, more speculative works. What is there works, and I probably liked those best, when I started to evoke mythology and ideas like that and tie them back to life, to feelings. There was definitely a lot to sift through in these poems, and while not many of them were what I would really call fun they were fascinating to read. If I had to assign a season to them it would be autumn, that sense of slight decay and the looming threat of winter. There is hope, to be sure, and a beauty that doesn't exist in other times, but also a melancholy that lingers.
All told, I really enjoyed the poems. I wanted more. I wanted, perhaps, some of those he wrote for novels included, but I'm sure rights on that would be confusing and they probably would only foul up the overall feel of this collection. It was powerful and made me want to read more poetry. So it succeeded in that, and earns an 8/10.
January 30, 2019
Guy Gavriel Kay is one of those rare authors whose writing I consider beautiful. His novels have always struck me as being particularly lyrical and poetic. Every deliberate choice of word and turn of phrase evokes emotion and is a joy to read. Kay has a poet’s soul and reading this short collection makes this starkly evident.
One of my favourite poems from this collection was Being Orpheus: ‘And somewhere then, behind all mysteries,
Where magic had its source, where
Sorcery was woven and the gods were born,
A song began. A song of mourning and lament,
Of sorrow not assuaged in all the years
That, following, towered into time.A song of loss to break
The hearts of beasts, to break the grip
Of earth on stone, to bend the starlight
Streaming to the world.
Light was so far ahead it was a prayer,
And the only god who mattered was behind.
He could not speak. Silence was the law
Through his contracting universe.’
Certainly a short but delightful read.
One of my favourite poems from this collection was Being Orpheus: ‘And somewhere then, behind all mysteries,
Where magic had its source, where
Sorcery was woven and the gods were born,
A song began. A song of mourning and lament,
Of sorrow not assuaged in all the years
That, following, towered into time.A song of loss to break
The hearts of beasts, to break the grip
Of earth on stone, to bend the starlight
Streaming to the world.
Light was so far ahead it was a prayer,
And the only god who mattered was behind.
He could not speak. Silence was the law
Through his contracting universe.’
Certainly a short but delightful read.
September 4, 2008
I always did get the feeling that Kay wished that he could be a poet, rather than a novelist. His writing certainly yearns towards it. I like his flowing, descriptive prose better than the distilled form, but there are several lovely ones not to be missed, particularly the one devoted to his relationship with his father.
February 8, 2023
I've always struggled to write reviews of poetry collections, much the same way I do about short story volumes. Inevitably, I like some poems/stories and don't like others, and sometimes the difference between quality and likeability from best to worst (or favorite to least favorite) is so vast that rating the work as a whole seems meaningless.
When I was a teenager, my mother was going through some of her old notebooks and found one where she had copied out her favorite poems from a wide variety of poets, back in college. Before that I knew my mom was a voracious reader (I got that from her) but I hadn't known she had ever been interested in poetry, so that's when I got into it, too. I read it, I wrote it (usually poorly), I bought a blank book from a bookstore and copied out my own favorites, and ended up taking a few college courses on it despite my science-based major.
I tell this story to say, I'm not sure if I still had that book that any of these poems would get copied. (I don't have it, and I think it was full anyway.) But I did enjoy many of them, and as a collection divided into parts with clear thematic links, this might be the most successful grouping of poetry I've had the pleasure of reading.
Some of the themes didn't speak to me: there's a vibrant sense of place, as many of the poems noted the location where they were written, and while I have traveled a fair bit in my life, it's not a strong drive I have. (I generally travel to visit people, and incidentally get to a be a tourist where they live.) There's also a great deal about broken passion and what sound like long-distance relationships, which might lead me to assume some things about Kay's life that I haven't made and wouldn't make any attempt to verify; the tone of many poems is clearly autobiographical and I'll leave it at that, but little of it reflects anything in my life.
But what I did find here was something I'd been missing from modern free-verse poetry: a sense of the poet caring how the words sounded together, rather than just spilling feelings onto a page without meter or form to contain them. I didn't read any of these out loud, but I spoke them in my head, because that's how I've always read poetry, and they generally sounded good, while still having the clarity and sincerity of the feelings-spilling poets. A handful of poems were less clear, more deliberately obscure in their meanings, and those tended to be the ones I liked less, but even those didn't feel like I'd peeked into some angsty teen's diary (like my own, before anyone thinks I'm throwing stones, I wrote very bad poetry in those years.)
What I also found was inspiration. In the last week, I've roughed out two poems about aspects of myself in a similar style to Kay's, which are the first two poems I've written in probably fifteen years. I thought about my poetry professor from college and wondered if she'd be pleased or horrified to find out I've written romance novels in the years since her classes. I dredged up memories I hadn't visited in quite some time to see how I feel about them as an adult looking back. I thought a lot about what an autobiography in poetry form would say about me, and how that might differ from the person I want to be going forward. And I still want to write more poetry about that, though as I continue I hope to develop my own style again, possibly even ditching free-verse for structured forms as I revise. I did use to love the challenge of fitting meaning into those forms with careful word choice, it was like a puzzle I created for myself, and I love puzzles.
I can't give this work five stars because I don't love it the way that rating implies, but any poetry that served me as both entertainment and an invitation to reflect on myself is good poetry.
When I was a teenager, my mother was going through some of her old notebooks and found one where she had copied out her favorite poems from a wide variety of poets, back in college. Before that I knew my mom was a voracious reader (I got that from her) but I hadn't known she had ever been interested in poetry, so that's when I got into it, too. I read it, I wrote it (usually poorly), I bought a blank book from a bookstore and copied out my own favorites, and ended up taking a few college courses on it despite my science-based major.
I tell this story to say, I'm not sure if I still had that book that any of these poems would get copied. (I don't have it, and I think it was full anyway.) But I did enjoy many of them, and as a collection divided into parts with clear thematic links, this might be the most successful grouping of poetry I've had the pleasure of reading.
Some of the themes didn't speak to me: there's a vibrant sense of place, as many of the poems noted the location where they were written, and while I have traveled a fair bit in my life, it's not a strong drive I have. (I generally travel to visit people, and incidentally get to a be a tourist where they live.) There's also a great deal about broken passion and what sound like long-distance relationships, which might lead me to assume some things about Kay's life that I haven't made and wouldn't make any attempt to verify; the tone of many poems is clearly autobiographical and I'll leave it at that, but little of it reflects anything in my life.
But what I did find here was something I'd been missing from modern free-verse poetry: a sense of the poet caring how the words sounded together, rather than just spilling feelings onto a page without meter or form to contain them. I didn't read any of these out loud, but I spoke them in my head, because that's how I've always read poetry, and they generally sounded good, while still having the clarity and sincerity of the feelings-spilling poets. A handful of poems were less clear, more deliberately obscure in their meanings, and those tended to be the ones I liked less, but even those didn't feel like I'd peeked into some angsty teen's diary (like my own, before anyone thinks I'm throwing stones, I wrote very bad poetry in those years.)
What I also found was inspiration. In the last week, I've roughed out two poems about aspects of myself in a similar style to Kay's, which are the first two poems I've written in probably fifteen years. I thought about my poetry professor from college and wondered if she'd be pleased or horrified to find out I've written romance novels in the years since her classes. I dredged up memories I hadn't visited in quite some time to see how I feel about them as an adult looking back. I thought a lot about what an autobiography in poetry form would say about me, and how that might differ from the person I want to be going forward. And I still want to write more poetry about that, though as I continue I hope to develop my own style again, possibly even ditching free-verse for structured forms as I revise. I did use to love the challenge of fitting meaning into those forms with careful word choice, it was like a puzzle I created for myself, and I love puzzles.
I can't give this work five stars because I don't love it the way that rating implies, but any poetry that served me as both entertainment and an invitation to reflect on myself is good poetry.
October 16, 2025
Ah! This was really good. And you could see snippets of the mythology being woven before they were used in broafer senses in his fantasy novels. Such a gentle weaving of words - sometimes based on very ordinary scenes. It was lovely to see the poetry that first made Kay the author he would become. (Not that he is shabby as a poet!)
March 2, 2018
It was interesting, but I would not recommend the author based upon his poetry. He should stick to prose - long live the Fionavar Tapestry.
April 28, 2020
I devoured this little collection, and I suspect I will revisit it more than once.
December 23, 2022
I liked some poems better than others, but prefer his fantasy work such as the Fionavar Tapestry.
January 29, 2024
Hard to rate because I know I don't really get poetry, and that's not Kay's fault.
April 14, 2024
Beautiful but nothing really resonated or stuck with me.
December 12, 2022
Predictably
I understood and will remember
one poem,
"Guinevere at Almesbury",
which expands on one half-line:
"I loved them both".
and another whole:
"I never dream of one of them alone."
July 30, 2023
(3.5 stars). Some of the poems in this book are fantastic, Guy Gavriel Kay can write a couple of verses that just STAB YOU THROUGH THE HEART. But like many collections, other poems are not quite as good (or I just lacked enough context to "get" them). I think many of this would work better as prose poetry.
My favorite poems in here were the ones about love and his travels. (Especially to Greece). On to more of his novels!
My favorite poems in here were the ones about love and his travels. (Especially to Greece). On to more of his novels!
August 18, 2016
Guy Gavriel Kay is one of my favorite fantasy novelists. Now, having read this short book, but not yet having had time for it to sink in, he threatens to become one of my favorite poets. It is not that I liked every poem in this book. Some were not to my taste. But many of the poems were very good and several were outstanding.
In the opening poem, "Night Drive: Elegy," the narrator remembers his father. There are a multitude of poems written in memory of parents or friends, so that sometimes it seems that there is little room to add anything worthwhile to their collective weight. For me, Guy Gavriel Kay has done so. For the most part, the poem is written plainly. The details are specific, their impact universal:
The book includes quite a few poems about love that are seemingly autobiographical, of which I think my favorite is the closing poem, "Finding Day." There are also a number of assorted mainstream poems, one of which, "If I Should Fly Across The Sea Again," I loved.
And then, appropriately for a fantasy novelist, there are a number of fantastical poems. These range from variations on old myths, to poems where the strangeness seemed to be the author's own invention. I particularly liked "Being Orpheus," "Medea," "Various Things," "At The Death of Pan," which has humor in it, "Hero," and "Shalott." But more than any of these, I loved "Guinevere at Almesbury," a masterful revisiting of the worn-out tales of Camelot:
A poem very different from the opening poem, but both of them superb, poems to be treasured and to which to return.
In the opening poem, "Night Drive: Elegy," the narrator remembers his father. There are a multitude of poems written in memory of parents or friends, so that sometimes it seems that there is little room to add anything worthwhile to their collective weight. For me, Guy Gavriel Kay has done so. For the most part, the poem is written plainly. The details are specific, their impact universal:
The drive back home,
just the two of us, end of a work day. He'd steer
with one hand at twelve o'clock and
an elbow out the open window. No one
ever born had hands I'd ever rather feel
enclosing mine. Then. Now. The day
the son we named for him was born.
The book includes quite a few poems about love that are seemingly autobiographical, of which I think my favorite is the closing poem, "Finding Day." There are also a number of assorted mainstream poems, one of which, "If I Should Fly Across The Sea Again," I loved.
And then, appropriately for a fantasy novelist, there are a number of fantastical poems. These range from variations on old myths, to poems where the strangeness seemed to be the author's own invention. I particularly liked "Being Orpheus," "Medea," "Various Things," "At The Death of Pan," which has humor in it, "Hero," and "Shalott." But more than any of these, I loved "Guinevere at Almesbury," a masterful revisiting of the worn-out tales of Camelot:
There was no place to hide.
I was brought into another life
and began to live with grief,
for Arthur knew. He knew me as he knew
each single star that swung about like
pointers to his north.
...
I see them on a forest path,
riding together. Dappled, autumn
leaves, a slanting sun just risen.
Or in battle side by side
with bloodied swords,
in the hard north. Or talking
a winter night away beside a fire
in a kingdom that has not fallen.
A poem very different from the opening poem, but both of them superb, poems to be treasured and to which to return.
January 2, 2016
Reading this on my Kobo, I have come to realize that digitial poetry collections are not appealing to me. I like the ability to flip back and forth, re-read, compare etc. At least on my device, this cannot happen easily. The poetry however, is quite good. I tend to like his fictional poetry more than the self-reflecting. Although, that being said there is one about his return trip to Oxford many years after graduation that I quite liked both the imagery and sentiment. For those who like his prose, I don't know that this compendium would be immediately appealing unless you are also a fan of poetry.
March 20, 2009
Guy Gavriel Kay's prose is always beautiful, so it follows that his poetry would be, too. I haven't actually read every poem in this volume yet, but I've read enough to know that there are some gems. I especially liked "Crystals":
"When you touched me
I thought my heart
would crash through my breastbone to lie,
pulsing and impossible,
on your bed."
and "On The Balcony":
"I am in love with where I am
but more in love with you."
I'm looking forward to reading the rest of this volume and keeping it on my shelf forever.
"When you touched me
I thought my heart
would crash through my breastbone to lie,
pulsing and impossible,
on your bed."
and "On The Balcony":
"I am in love with where I am
but more in love with you."
I'm looking forward to reading the rest of this volume and keeping it on my shelf forever.
April 29, 2014
3.5 stars. Some beautiful, as I thought they would be from his novels; some inscrutably personal.
Northumbria
... and I saw horsemen:
indentations in the sky
above the heathered hills,
running away to Scotland
five hundred years ago.
The hills are then, easily.
The morning sun seems to want
those riders as much as I,
appearing in bright felicity
to shine on other times,
other worlds.
Northumbria
... and I saw horsemen:
indentations in the sky
above the heathered hills,
running away to Scotland
five hundred years ago.
The hills are then, easily.
The morning sun seems to want
those riders as much as I,
appearing in bright felicity
to shine on other times,
other worlds.
May 30, 2021
So, I'm trying to explore some more poetry. I decided to reread this, as Kay is one of my favourite writers.
I'm not really a poetry reader and maybe that's the issue. The very first poem, Night Drive: Elegy, (before part one of the collection) made me cry. The rest - I found some interesting ideas & some beautiful phrases, but the collection doesn't really speak to me.
I'm not really a poetry reader and maybe that's the issue. The very first poem, Night Drive: Elegy, (before part one of the collection) made me cry. The rest - I found some interesting ideas & some beautiful phrases, but the collection doesn't really speak to me.
June 21, 2011
a bit of a mixed bag. some pretty good and thought provoking, some less so. for the most part better than the poetry in his novels (with the exception of "Rachel's Song"), but I have to say I prefer his fiction to his poetry.
December 26, 2013
I really don't like poetry. But this is pretty readable, and I wasn't surprised since I like Kay's poetry that filters into his novels.
Favorites are the title poem, and "Guinevere at Almesbury".
Favorites are the title poem, and "Guinevere at Almesbury".
March 8, 2009
I'll stick to his books. Several really good.
June 22, 2010
He's better at prose.
January 13, 2016
I loved some poems and totally missed the point of others. I felt I needed some outside information to properly access certain ones, but could easily picture the scenes and stories in others.
December 27, 2016
I really love the poems that connect to Camelot. Most of the modern ones I didn't connect with as much.
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews