What do you think?
Rate this book
The World's Two Smallest Humans
Julia Copus's poems bring humanity and light to some of our most intimate and solitary moments, repeatedly breathing life into loss. In two previous collections, she has been feted as among the most compelling poets to have emerged in recent years; now, in The World's Two Smallest Humans, she is writing at her most captivating yet. These finely tuned poems are the fruit of her upbringing in a musical family, an affinity with the Classics, a fascination with the arc of time, and an unflinching scrutiny of love and personal relationships. Born out of a powerful sense of place, the poems navigate through a beguiling sequence of interior and exterior landscapes, whether revisiting Ovid, negotiating the perils of one composer's attempt to step into the shoes of another or describing, from shifting perspectives, a young girl's escape from suburban ennui. The book concludes with a moving arrangement of pieces that explore the author's experience of IVF: poems written with wry humour and with grace, which celebrate the mysteries of conception alongside the sometimes surreal business of medical intervention. The World's Two Smallest Humans is an unforgettable read.
- GenresPoetry
52 pages, Paperback
First published July 5, 2012
1 person is currently reading
71 people want to read
About the author
Julia Copus
26 books11 followersJulia Copus was born in London, near to the Young Vic theatre, and now lives in Somerset. All three of her poetry collections, The Shuttered Eye, In Defence of Adultery and The World's Two Smallest Humans, are both Poetry Book Society Recommendations. She has won First Prize in the National Poetry Competition, the Forward Prize for Best Single Poem (2010), and in 2012 was shortlisted for the Ted Hughes Award for New Work in Poetry.
She also writes for radio; her first play, Eenie Meenie Macka Racka, was awarded the BBC's Alfred Bradley prize for best new radio playwright. She is an Advisory Fellow for the Royal Literary Fund, and in 2008 was made an Honorary Fellow at the University of Exeter.
Her third collection, The World's Two Smallest Humans, was published this year by Faber.
She also writes for radio; her first play, Eenie Meenie Macka Racka, was awarded the BBC's Alfred Bradley prize for best new radio playwright. She is an Advisory Fellow for the Royal Literary Fund, and in 2008 was made an Honorary Fellow at the University of Exeter.
Her third collection, The World's Two Smallest Humans, was published this year by Faber.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
April 10, 2019
You know when you read something and it doesn't necessarily all make sense to you but it feels important? This is exactly how I felt reading this wonderful collection. The World's Two Smallest Humans is an important collection of poetry. It will make you question what it is to be alive and it delves into the fragility of life itself. The final poem 'Pledge' gave me goosebumps and that's when you know that poetry is good. Another outstanding piece is 'Stars Moving Westward in a Winter Garden': there's just something about the lines 'a man stands, breathing into the shape of his loss,/ though in truth he could stand for any one of us [...] earthbound, heart-sore, [...] travelling eastwards, against a background of stars.' that makes my heart sing.
October 1, 2021
M'ha agradat molt. I m'han fascinat els dos poemes "mirall". Potser la part que menys m'ha agradat és l'última, amb els poemes dedicats a la fecundació in vitro.
February 17, 2016
I was first introduced to Julia Copus after reading the poem 'An Easy Passage', the Forward Prize winner, in English class. I was enthralled. The clever juxtapositions used in colour and wording to show the difference between the young and old and the act of growing up fascinated as we analysed her poem in depth so when I saw this anthology at my local library, I decided to take it out.
Now, I'm not exactly an avid poem reader, so I don't have much to judge this book by but I truly loved reading these. This book is split into two parts: Durable Features, and Ghost, the latter much shorter than the former. In the first part, my favourite poems were about breakups and the act of growing older. In 'Stars Moving Westwards in a Winter Garden' time is shown to go by as leaves fall, birthdays pass, and the people change. It seems the poet is describing the difficulty of getting through a breakup as time moves so quickly by.
"...You have heard it said
that when we look out into space
we're looking back in time.
Whose time? Our own?
Right now you want this to mean
that the past itself is a kind of canopy
spread out on every side, in bluish black,
that somewhere in the night sky,
is contained,
among the million things happenings
that led you here,
that sudden summer storm,
you sheltered from together, her small hand
too warm..."
The above is a small extract from the poem that I think encapsulates the meaning of the poem, the use of the constant enjambment is something I love (which is used all the way through all of the poems), it helps to tell a story.
As does 'An Easy Passage', the poem I fell in love with, which is also included in the first part of this book. You can read that poem right here (and you should).
The poem that follows right after 'An Easy Passage' is called 'The Silence Between Us' and tells a story where silence is personified to be a body, unmoving and catatonic. The way silence works and hurts a person is gently worded and expressed as the author wills for sound and gently
"lifts one leathery eyelid -
where the soul is crouched"
but there is no answer.
Another of my favourites in the first half is called 'A Soft-edged Reed of Light' which is told where the speaker is left wistfully exploring her memories of a relationship, wishing for more saying she's sad it ended but
"if that same dark-haired boy
were to lean towards me now,
with one shy hand bathed in September sun,
as if to say All things are possible - then why not this?
I'd take it still, praying it might be so."
When the book moves to Part 2: Ghost, it becomes even more storylike, each poem leads onto each other and (i think) should be read all together as a story rather than as seperate poems. They, together, entail the author's experience with IVF using clever metaphors of constellations and leaves to explain the experience from start to finish.
This entire book is fantastic, some poems are better than others but when they're good, they're fantastic. I highly recommend at least reading 'An Easy Passage'.
Now, I'm not exactly an avid poem reader, so I don't have much to judge this book by but I truly loved reading these. This book is split into two parts: Durable Features, and Ghost, the latter much shorter than the former. In the first part, my favourite poems were about breakups and the act of growing older. In 'Stars Moving Westwards in a Winter Garden' time is shown to go by as leaves fall, birthdays pass, and the people change. It seems the poet is describing the difficulty of getting through a breakup as time moves so quickly by.
"...You have heard it said
that when we look out into space
we're looking back in time.
Whose time? Our own?
Right now you want this to mean
that the past itself is a kind of canopy
spread out on every side, in bluish black,
that somewhere in the night sky,
is contained,
among the million things happenings
that led you here,
that sudden summer storm,
you sheltered from together, her small hand
too warm..."
The above is a small extract from the poem that I think encapsulates the meaning of the poem, the use of the constant enjambment is something I love (which is used all the way through all of the poems), it helps to tell a story.
As does 'An Easy Passage', the poem I fell in love with, which is also included in the first part of this book. You can read that poem right here (and you should).
The poem that follows right after 'An Easy Passage' is called 'The Silence Between Us' and tells a story where silence is personified to be a body, unmoving and catatonic. The way silence works and hurts a person is gently worded and expressed as the author wills for sound and gently
"lifts one leathery eyelid -
where the soul is crouched"
but there is no answer.
Another of my favourites in the first half is called 'A Soft-edged Reed of Light' which is told where the speaker is left wistfully exploring her memories of a relationship, wishing for more saying she's sad it ended but
"if that same dark-haired boy
were to lean towards me now,
with one shy hand bathed in September sun,
as if to say All things are possible - then why not this?
I'd take it still, praying it might be so."
When the book moves to Part 2: Ghost, it becomes even more storylike, each poem leads onto each other and (i think) should be read all together as a story rather than as seperate poems. They, together, entail the author's experience with IVF using clever metaphors of constellations and leaves to explain the experience from start to finish.
This entire book is fantastic, some poems are better than others but when they're good, they're fantastic. I highly recommend at least reading 'An Easy Passage'.
September 21, 2013
You’d be forgiven for skimming over some of the subtler poems here, but don’t on any account miss “Ghost,” a wonderful autobiographical sequence of poems describing an IVF treatment. Copus tenderly recreates her experience through some beautiful images, many evoking the seaside: “the eggs / they harvested at noon with the consummate needle, / drawing them off like tiny, luminous pearls / from the sea of her body” (from “At the Farmer’s Inn”); “like a fishing-net spreads itself, wide under water; / I give myself over, shell and shelter, / child, my own. By and by with the push of the wash / I’ll usher you in” (from “Pledge”).
Yet this round will be unsuccessful: “a thing picked up is not always held. A silvery sprat in the mouth of a heron” (from “Leaves”). Infertility seems to be one of the great crises of meaning in our time, an area where the natural and the artificial collide and we rediscover human limitations. This is an eloquent addition to that bittersweet conversation (also recommended on the topic would be the story “Procreate, Generate” in Anthony Doerr’s Memory Wall ).
As to the rest: “How much less complex / life would be / without this feverish / dance between / the wanter and the wanted” is one of my favorite lines from the collection – here describing the relationship between herons and fish, in “Heronkind,” and making way for that piscine image of frustrated desire in “Ghost.” Another plum comes in “This Silence Between Us”: “Then gently, with a fingertip, / I lift one leathery eyelid / where the soul is crouched / and speak to it directly” – such a lovely image of finding one’s self again after a time of depression.
Yet this round will be unsuccessful: “a thing picked up is not always held. A silvery sprat in the mouth of a heron” (from “Leaves”). Infertility seems to be one of the great crises of meaning in our time, an area where the natural and the artificial collide and we rediscover human limitations. This is an eloquent addition to that bittersweet conversation (also recommended on the topic would be the story “Procreate, Generate” in Anthony Doerr’s Memory Wall ).
As to the rest: “How much less complex / life would be / without this feverish / dance between / the wanter and the wanted” is one of my favorite lines from the collection – here describing the relationship between herons and fish, in “Heronkind,” and making way for that piscine image of frustrated desire in “Ghost.” Another plum comes in “This Silence Between Us”: “Then gently, with a fingertip, / I lift one leathery eyelid / where the soul is crouched / and speak to it directly” – such a lovely image of finding one’s self again after a time of depression.
August 4, 2012
Wonderful poems. Her specular poems are so very clever; well worth seeking out. The collection relating to her IVF is exceptional.
August 21, 2019
A gorgeous collection about the trials of longing/IVF - the poem 'Egg' and the final poem are particularly moving
January 31, 2021
My favourite collection of contemporary poetry. Truly beautiful.
August 26, 2024
This is an extraordinarily moving collection, especially ‘Ghost’, the description of IVF treatment
October 3, 2025
Most of it I was like "what the actual f**k", but then everything started to make sense.
And I felt it.
And I felt it.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews