Was It for This

by Hannah Sullivan

Hannah Sullivan's first collection, Three Poems, won the T. S. Eliot Prize and the inaugural John Pollard International Poetry Prize. Was It for This continues that book's project, offering a trenchant exploration of the ways in which we attempt to map our lives in space and time.

But there is also the wider, collective experience to contend with, the upheaval of historic event and present disaster. 'Tenants', the first poem, is an elegy for Grenfell, written from the uneasy perspective of a new mother living a few streets away. Elsewhere, from the terraces and precincts of seventies and eighties London to the late-at-night decks of American suburbs, intimately inhabited geographies provide reference points and sites for revisiting.

Nothing is too small or unlovely to be transfixed by the poet's attention, from the thin concrete pillars of a flyover to an elderly peacock's broken train. There is a memorialising strain in the forensic accumulation of detail, but there is also celebration, a keen sense of holding on to and cherishing what we can.

'Rare, sympathetic, exceptionally readable.' Kate Kellaway, Observer Poetry Book of the Month

'Was it For This is a tour de force that fulfils its own powerful desire on the page.' Martina Evans, Irish Times

'Hannah Sullivan's poetry is exceptional in the specificity and candour with which it draws on autobiography and retrospection.' Stephen Knight, Literary Review

Genres: Poetry, Contemporary

112 pages, Paperback

Published January 4, 2024

About the author

Hannah Sullivan lives in London with her husband and two sons and is an Associate Professor of English at New College, Oxford. She received her PhD from Harvard in 2008 and taught in California for four years. She is currently associate professor of English at New College, Oxford. Her study of modernist writing, The Work of Revision, was published in 2013 and awarded the Rose Mary Crawshay Prize by the British Academy. Her debut poetry collection, Three Poems, was published by Faber in 2018 and was awarded the prestigious TS Eliot Prize.

Reviews

[Victoria · Rating 2 out of 5]

I can see so many people enjoying and really connecting with this poetry collection; unfortunately, I am not one of them. It is purely personal preference. I do not like prose style poems, or poems that are very long. I like my poems to be a bit shorter, 1-2 pages max and not in a prose/paragraph format, which is what a lot of these poems were. Because I disliked the style so much, I had a hard time getting through the poems, and they weren't as impactful as they would be to someone else who does like that style. If you are a fan of longer form poetry, or prose style poetry, I recommend checking this out.

[Caspar "moved to storygraph" Bryant]

i'm really curious about Hannah Sullivan's project she's arguably The advocate for the long poem in the UK right now and this is prosey as you like until it's not and it tears through you. Grenfell poem. Autobiography. Birthday & time. Much to love though I think best taken following Three Poems and as ever, I suspect she's a poet best digested. I take a few turns to get there

[Elva Bisschop · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

4 stars for the first poem, 3.5 stars for the second poem, and 3 stars for the third poem

[Tony · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm reviewing this but I think I need to have another read before I write my full review. My immediate thoughts: I liked it a lot, but I'm not sure I took it all in.

[Air · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received a copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

There's something so intense and mind-opening about this collection. I think it tackled a very tragic event in the most profound way that had me intrigued the entire time. It ranges back and forth from quite a few different topics at the same time. The Grenfell Tower fire is a very notable one throughout but still touches on motherhood and the terror felt by so many things. I think this will be a very notable read.

[Lindsay · Rating 2 out of 5]

Starts out ok, the middle full of prose and a boring catalogue of living spaces felt like dragging my feet through mud, finally got to more poetry but after the slog it just didn’t hold my attention. Not for me.

[Fnaught · Rating 4 out of 5]

Poem 1: Incredible.

Poem 2: Really good, but the anti-Catholic joke was in poor taste.

Poem 3: This is the philosophy text of someone who shops at Waitrose.

[Marc Nash · Rating 3 out of 5]

Video review https://youtu.be/PXEzqvXfj34

[Juliano · Rating 4 out of 5]

“The first half having been / given up to space, I decided / to devote my remaining / life to time, this thing we live / in fishily or on like moss”. In Hannah Sullivan’s second collection of poetry Was It for This (quite like her first, the inimitable Three Poems), Sullivan excavates her personal relationship with space and time across a trio of varied, daring long poems. ‘Tenants’, the first poem, uses reports and testimony to consider the tragedy of the Grenfell fire, “To think of an event, a thing that happened, / To understand how vague it was, / How confused, uneventful, out of time.” The events of the fire fracture and yet ultimately distinguish time: “You think there was no timeline in my mind, / I don’t remember that specific time. / What I remember was the whiteness of the fire / A perfect whiteness, magnetising…” The poem ends in “The tinnitus of silence after sound”, and the next poem, the title poem, then charts several spaces through time, from 1980s London to 2020, via America and other detours, the decades truncated. As the voice grieves the loss of her father time and space intersect continually, “the still centre of my life, the point, the marrow: me”. It longs for “a glimpse of something to believe in that was communal / And still to come.” Finally, in ‘Happy Birthday’, age and parenthood are the nexus for the monotony of life (“So yes, it was New Year and / then my birthday yet again”) and for the boundlessness of regret, a refrain creeping in: “I wanted all of it again / to do again”. The ending is defiant and radical, “the flashiness of staring down / tomorrow”; as with much of Sullivan’s work, it feels like being lovingly, brutally seen.

[M · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of narrative poems that feel somehow ideal for a rainy-day reading. I loved the way the prose poems aligned with the beauty of the lyric short--lyric essay, etc.

I loved lines such as these: cranes snapped / like nutcrackers on little nubs of sky

I loved moments where we entered in and out of the landscape of Sullivan's world, contrasted with wider observation.


Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

[Sassy Sarah Reads · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF @ page 33

I know this is a short poetry collection and it's less than 100 pages, but I did not like this one at all. I feel miserable while forcing myself to read each line and I don't like feeling that way about reading. I don't hate the poetry or the writing here. I just feel so indifferent towards it. That indifference led me to decide to DNF this one. i don't think I will pick this one back up later. Official DNF for Was It For This.

[Ruby Reads · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Was it for This" is Sullivan's latest, hybrid collection of poems. Themes range from new motherhood, London, and the Grenwell Tower fire. In visceral language she juxtaposes these different subjects and moods which soothe and stimulate the reader. Recommended reading for poets and lovers of poetry. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

[Reagan Ruisseau · Rating 4 out of 5]

overall I love the section tenants and happy birthday and they are emotive and brilliant, however, the middle (and longest section), “was it for this” (the same name as the title) fell off for me a bit and I did not connect to it as I did to the other two sections of poems

[DogMiz · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this collection. Especially the opening poem is incredibly poignant, and the second almost seems like a finishing poem or note on her first collection.

A more mature reflection on that time in Sullivan’s life?

[Ashley · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an excellent example of poetry with purpose and relevance. Challenged my thoughts in an insightful way.

[Sir John Feelgood · Rating 5 out of 5]

Outstanding.

[Ted J. Gibbs · Rating 5 out of 5]

was blown away - especially with 'tenants'

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Emily Taylor · Rating 3 out of 5]

‘Tenant’ and the titular poem were brilliant, preference to ‘Was it for This’. Not as keen on Happy Birthday.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

her vocabulary choices are a bit too uppity for me at times

[elin | winterrainreads · Rating 2 out of 5]

〝the general theme of the day was liquefaction, umbrellas, rain running giddily off the highly lacquered surface of the coffin, the soggy soil, the disappearing spikes of heels.〞

★★

this collection continues the poet's first project, offering a trenchant exploration of the ways in which we attempt to map our lives in space and time. but there is also the wider, collective experience to contend with, the upheaval of historic event and present disaster. nothing is too small or unlovely to be transfixed by the poet's attention, from the thin concrete pillars of a flyover to an elderly peacock's broken train. there is a memorializing strain in the forensic accumulation of detail, but there is also celebration, a keen sense of holding on to and cherishing what we can.

one of my favorite things to do in bookshops is spontaneously buying poetry collections without knowing anything about them. sometimes I find a new favorite poet this way and sometimes I love the writing but not the poems which sadly happen this time around. if I had opened this book in the store I would've know this wasn't for me. as much as I try I'm just not a long poems kind of girl. while I loved the writing and the themes of grief, moving around, being a new mother and historic events set in london this read more like a short story collection and it just wasn't what I was after. I prefer a poem, a couple pages maximum, with clear rhythm and prose that will just whisk me away and make me feel like I'm being pulled out to sea and rocked by the waves but this just wasn't written to make the reader feel like that.

if she ever writes something that's not poetry I'll definitely check it out because I really did love her writing style in general. even though it wasn't for me in the end this could still be a great start for someone wanting to get into poetry since it's almost like a short story collection or people who just love longer poems.

ig: @winterrainreads