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What the Ice Gets: Shackleton's Antarctic Expedition, 1914-1916
Blending historical, scientific, and literary scholarship with an impressive range of poetic forms, Melinda Mueller masterfully brings us the legendary tale of Sir Ernest Shackleton's Trans-Antarctic Expedition. What the Ice Gets is an adventure story, a requiem, and a love poem written to twenty-eight heroes and the mythic landscape they set out to explore but that instead explored them.
- GenresPoetryHistoryNonfiction
120 pages, Paperback
First published November 15, 2000
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
April 25, 2009
The story of Shackleton's expedition alone is an amazing one, and this telling of it does an admirable job of getting across the feelings as well as the details. Mueller mixes the men's words with her own descriptions seamlessly. She uses noteworthy quotes and adds her own with that same feel, such as when Crean recounts returning from an earlier Antarctic expedition:
"More than how you look, 'tis what
you see that changes most."
The first time I saw trees again,
they looked to me like green ghosts." (p. 18)
Overall, this is one hell of a project for a poet to take on, and she more than just does it, she does it justice. She takes not just the expedition but the broader tale of the changing world as these survivors find themselves alive but lost and passing away in a world where a World War is changing everything:
"The men whose lives Frank Wild helped to save are all
long dead. Their deaths have fallen
so far behind us they are become, as Worsley would say,
quaint." (p. 70)
This is a book well worth picking up.
"More than how you look, 'tis what
you see that changes most."
The first time I saw trees again,
they looked to me like green ghosts." (p. 18)
Overall, this is one hell of a project for a poet to take on, and she more than just does it, she does it justice. She takes not just the expedition but the broader tale of the changing world as these survivors find themselves alive but lost and passing away in a world where a World War is changing everything:
"The men whose lives Frank Wild helped to save are all
long dead. Their deaths have fallen
so far behind us they are become, as Worsley would say,
quaint." (p. 70)
This is a book well worth picking up.
October 29, 2018
Pretty words woven into pictures. Not-so pretty words woven into the rawness of fear, near-despair, and near-death. A real-life tale of epic proportions, told in part by those who lived it themselves.
Uses occasional profanity--at least a handful of times. Some of this is from quotations.
Uses occasional profanity--at least a handful of times. Some of this is from quotations.
March 30, 2016
What the Ice Gets by Melinda Mueller is a splendid account of the Shackleton Antarctic Expedition in poetic form. The author masterfully blends the journal entries of the men on the expedition with the historical events of their troubled journey, creating a gripping story. The story is powerful and engaging in its own right, but the exceptional writing of Melinda Mueller makes the tale all the more compelling. The elegance and economy of word use shines through in verse, while the text reads as clearly and smoothly as prose.
Throughout the story, the spirit of British self-reliance shines through brilliantly. The crew makes sure to salvage the Encyclopedia Britannica--that symbol of British intellectual achievement--burning the less edifying sections as fire starters and cigarettes as their situation worsens. The crew lives up to England's reputation as capable sea-faring people by navigating in dire circumstances. The following passage succinctly encapsulates the British naval prowess: "The sun's a vague blot in fog. He guesses / at its center through the sextant, brings it / down to a guessed horizon--'the boat jumping / like a flea'--and snaps the altitude. / Then he peels apart the soggy pages / of his navigation books and works out / a guess at where they are. If his guesses / are wrong the Atlantic will swallow them." This is just one example of the capability of the crew.
The natural beauty of the harsh Antarctic terrain is brought to life by the poetic form, drawing the reader's mind into the physical environment. The accounts of the crushing teeth of the ice as it mangles the crew's ship, 'Endurance' is an image that is not soon forgotten, nor is the yawning darkness of the long nights.
What the Ice Gets is one of those rare gems of a book that is a great beauty, but has received little attention or notoriety. My copy was discarded from the Nashville Public Library--removed from the shelves to make room for the latest popular novel. But, despite it's limited fame, there is something timeless in this poem: It is a testament to the power of the human spirit to maintain composure in times of crisis, it pays homage to the strength of a committed crew to achieve what no one person can do individually, and it provides the quiet assurance that hope remains the most precious commodities when the odds grow long.
Throughout the story, the spirit of British self-reliance shines through brilliantly. The crew makes sure to salvage the Encyclopedia Britannica--that symbol of British intellectual achievement--burning the less edifying sections as fire starters and cigarettes as their situation worsens. The crew lives up to England's reputation as capable sea-faring people by navigating in dire circumstances. The following passage succinctly encapsulates the British naval prowess: "The sun's a vague blot in fog. He guesses / at its center through the sextant, brings it / down to a guessed horizon--'the boat jumping / like a flea'--and snaps the altitude. / Then he peels apart the soggy pages / of his navigation books and works out / a guess at where they are. If his guesses / are wrong the Atlantic will swallow them." This is just one example of the capability of the crew.
The natural beauty of the harsh Antarctic terrain is brought to life by the poetic form, drawing the reader's mind into the physical environment. The accounts of the crushing teeth of the ice as it mangles the crew's ship, 'Endurance' is an image that is not soon forgotten, nor is the yawning darkness of the long nights.
What the Ice Gets is one of those rare gems of a book that is a great beauty, but has received little attention or notoriety. My copy was discarded from the Nashville Public Library--removed from the shelves to make room for the latest popular novel. But, despite it's limited fame, there is something timeless in this poem: It is a testament to the power of the human spirit to maintain composure in times of crisis, it pays homage to the strength of a committed crew to achieve what no one person can do individually, and it provides the quiet assurance that hope remains the most precious commodities when the odds grow long.
September 3, 2014
I read this years ago and have never forgotten it--a wondrous balance of narrative and poetry. The title alone is so graceful.
We tend to think of poets as minimalists, but a few tackle tales of epic size. Homer did. So did Stephen Vincent Benet in "John Brown's Body." And so, too, has Melinda Mueller in her slim volume "What the Ice Gets."
In spare, cadent verse, she proves Hemingway's iceberg theory of writing, namely that the dignity of an iceberg rests in the fact that only one-eighth of it is visible.
An astonishing book!
We tend to think of poets as minimalists, but a few tackle tales of epic size. Homer did. So did Stephen Vincent Benet in "John Brown's Body." And so, too, has Melinda Mueller in her slim volume "What the Ice Gets."
In spare, cadent verse, she proves Hemingway's iceberg theory of writing, namely that the dignity of an iceberg rests in the fact that only one-eighth of it is visible.
An astonishing book!
February 10, 2022
Reading about how people have endured extreme hardship with grace is uplifting, especially so when we see that there is a wide range in how our various personalities can adapt. The story of Shackleton and Wild's Antarctic expedition of 1914-16 shows just that, and Mueller's beautiful modern "epic" poem in blank verse brings the character of so many of the men of this voyage to life. The poem also brings the brutal beauty of Antarctica to life. I hadn't known much about this expedition, but now I want to learn more. Frank Wild, the second-in-command, kept the men organized, civilized, and amused through months of hellish conditions on Elephant Island and is worthy of a monument.
Just last week there was an article in the New York Times about an upcoming attempt to find the wreck of the Endurance using underwater drones. I'm not sure what they'll find more worthwhile than what Mueller found in her research, but I'll still be paying attention, remembering the story of these men and what they endured.
Just last week there was an article in the New York Times about an upcoming attempt to find the wreck of the Endurance using underwater drones. I'm not sure what they'll find more worthwhile than what Mueller found in her research, but I'll still be paying attention, remembering the story of these men and what they endured.
June 5, 2024
This short collection is compelling and skillful. Each time I opened the book, I was transported. Additionally, the distinct feel of poems from various perspectives was amazing.
August 5, 2013
What an amazing story! Set in poem form (not the rhyme-y sing-song-y kind, fortunately), it related the story of the Shackleton expedition to Antartica, 1914-1916. The courage and perseverance of these brave men when their ship got stuck and then destroyed by the ice is nothing short of miraculous. All along the way, from being marooned on the ice for months, through their harrowing journey in three little boats to the nearest, though uninhabited, island, and through the final unbelievable trek by Shackleton and two other brave men to get help, the reader is held spellbound by the resourcefulness, bravery, and faith these redoubtable men demonstrated. That they all survived is nothing short of the greatest miracle, a culmination of many smaller miracles throughout their experience. Though the poet had to change their quotations to fit into the poetic form, there is a list of their actual quotations in the notes at the end, and it is very interesting to read what they actually said and thought as this whole harrowing journey was happening. A definite read for adventure lovers!
April 23, 2015
What an amazing read! It was such an unusual and passionate way of narrating the adventures of the Endurance and its crew on its journey to the south pole in 1914. You grow attached to these people, suffer and hope with them as they struggle for survival in these remote and cruel landscapes. It's striking that many of these men, after being rescued from that hell, enlisted for other expeditions, as if for them it was inconceivable a life not at sea. But the most unsettling thing for me is that after coming back several of them lived the most ordinary lives, like nothing happened. One can really be a hero for a day, a month or whatever it takes to save his and his mates' life.
July 8, 2019
It has been many years since I stumbled on this slight book, but it remains gargantuan in my memory. Never has a poetic voice with an ear for the exact sound of human experience combined with both science and adventure to create such a tour de force of the imagination. This long poem, which steeps the reader in bravery, fear, forbearance, life and death, is as glittering and glistening as the ice of the Antarctic itself.
Brava!
Brava!
March 1, 2011
This was one of the 2002 RUSA Notable Books winners. For the complete list, go to http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/rus...
January 12, 2014
A friend recommended this astonishing poetical rendition of Ernest Shackleton's Expedition to the Antarctic in 1914. I read it in one big gulp and will do so again. Amazing.
November 3, 2016
This is an epic style poem of the survival story of Earnest Shackleton and the crew of the Endurance. It is worth the read having read The Endurance.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews