[(The State of the Prisons)] [Author: Sinead Morrissey] published on

by Sinéad Morrissey

Addressing the theme of imprisonment in various states-from actual prisons in 18th century Europe to the limits perceptions place on individual experiences-this collection of poems fully explores the intimate interiors of human relationships. Form and content, as well as the personal and the political, are blended throughout this collection with imagination and consummate skill. This collection concludes with a first person recounting of the life and works of the great prison reformer John Howard while detailing his vision for the moral regeneration of the corrupted human soul.

Genres: Poetry, Ireland

Paperback

First published September 1, 2005

About the author

Raised in Belfast, she was educated at Trinity College, Dublin, where she took BA and PhD degrees, and won the Patrick Kavanagh Poetry Award in 1990. She has published four collections of poetry: There Was Fire in Vancouver (1996), Between Here and There (2001), The State of the Prisons (2005), and Through the Square Window (2009), the second, third and fourth of which were shortlisted for the T. S. Eliot Prize. After periods living in Japan and New Zealand she now lives in Belfast, where she has been writer-in-residence at Queen's University, Belfast and currently lectures.

Her collection, The State of the Prisons, was shortlisted for the Poetry Now Award in 2006. In November 2007, she received a Lannan Foundation Fellowship for "distinctive literary merit and for demonstrating potential for continued outstanding work". Her poem "Through the Square Window" won first prize in the 2007 British National Poetry Competition. Her collection, Through the Square Window, won the Poetry Now Award for 2010.

Reviews

[One Sassy Reader · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this for college and I will be copy+paste”ing” this review into all of her collections, as I have currently read everything from the 1st collection - “there was fire in Vancouver” - to the 6th and most recent - “on balance”.

I think Sinéad Morrissey’s poetry is among the best that I have ever read or had the pleasure to study. However, she isn’t a favourite of mine. I think that, personally, I like poetry that I can identify myself with/ poems that really resonate with me. It doesn’t mean that I won’t appreciate or bow down to the many beautiful poems she wrote about mythology/legends/travelling… Her poems about japan are absolutely incredible.

Nevertheless, I do appreciate autobiographical poetry more. I think I particularly tend to enjoy poetry from the 20th back more. So, it’s not surprising for me that I end up enjoying Eavan Boland’s poetry more, for example. There’s just something missing in most contemporary poetry for me. Some feeling that I get from “older” poetry that I don’t from poetry written post-90’s/ early 00’s.

[Sheri Fresonke Harper · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sinead Morrissey has some really impressive poetry in this collection, especially the title poem dedicated to John Howard, a man who worked to reform prisons in the late 1700s and the opening poem, Flight, about the terrible practice of bridling wives. Very thoughtful, well-formed poems with a lot of underlying emotion.

[Adrianne]

This book is breathtaking. Morrissey = Sylvia Plath & Elizabeth Bishop + some Yeats. A poet friend says, "impossible". "And yet..."

[Adrian · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked up this collection on the back of a couple of poems shortlisted for the Forward prize last year, which SM ended up winning - I chose this one instead of On Balance, the winning collection, because of the prison theme and the long poem about prison reformer John Howard - he has often come up in our presentations on prison health.

Unfortunately I didn't find this volume particularly compelling, though when I leafed through it just now there were more poems that I liked than didn't. I still found it hard to pick out a standout poem - possibly the alarming 'Driving Alone on a Snowy evening':

"There is no reason that I know
to go on waking, eating, so
I turn the urgent wipers off
And watch the screen fill up with snow" etc

[sara de sousa · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Hours pass, and there is only my white face, strained
in its hopelessness, my failure to catch the day in my hands like a fish
and have it always."

[A.P. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Morrissey is one of a handful of poets who I'd rush out and buy their latest book. This is not Sinead's latest - I've read them all now finishing with rthis but ever since I saw her poem in the Dancing with Kitty Stobling anthology (past Patrick Kavanagh winners) I have always been impressed with her poetry. This is another volume those first feelings.

[Jo · Rating 4 out of 5]

So inventive. 'Juist' is astonishing.