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Darker Ends
In his native England, Robert Nye is considered “one of the most startlingly original poets writing today” (John Horder, “London Tribune”). “Darker Ends,” the first collection of his poetry to appear in the United States, gives American readers a chance to appreciate the justness of this regard. Here are poems about two self-adoring people separated in marriage, about a bat in a box, buying bread, finding sixpence, and fishing for stars. The visions of these poems are at time entrancing, at times terrible – but the terror is checked by the mastery with which it is expressed. Obviously for Robert Nye, as for all good poets, words have a magic and ultimate power for those with the gift of using them well.
60 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1969
7 people want to read
About the author
Robert Nye
72 books47 followersRobert Nye was an English writer, playwright and poet.
Nye started writing stories for children to entertain his three young sons. Nye published his first adult novel, Doubtfire, in 1967.
Nye's next publication after Doubtfire was a return to children's literature, a freewheeling version of Beowulf which has remained in print in many editions since 1968. In 1970, he published another children's book, Wishing Gold, and received the James Kennaway Memorial Award for his collection of short stories, Tales I Told My Mother (1969).
During the early 1970s Nye wrote several plays for BBC radio including “A Bloody Stupit Hole” (1970), “Reynolds, Reynolds” (1971), and a version of Penthesilea by Heinrich von Kleist (1971). He was also commissioned by Covent Garden to write an unpublished libretto for Harrison Birtwistle's opera, Kronia (1970). Nye held the position of writer in residence at the University of Edinburgh, 1976-1977, during which time he received the Guardian fiction prize, followed by the 1976 Hawthornden Prize for his novel Falstaff.
He continued to write poetry, publishing Darker Ends (1969) and Divisions on a Ground (1976), and to prepare editions of other poets with whose work he felt an affinity: Sir Walter Ralegh, William Barnes, and Laura Riding. His own Collected Poems appeared in 1995. His selected poems, entitled The Rain and The Glass, published in 2005, won the Cholmondeley Award. From 1977 he lived in County Cork, Ireland. Although his novels have won prizes and been translated into many languages, it is as a poet that he would probably have preferred to be remembered. The critic Gabriel Josipovici described him as "one of the most interesting poets writing today, with a voice unlike that of any of his contemporaries."
Nye started writing stories for children to entertain his three young sons. Nye published his first adult novel, Doubtfire, in 1967.
Nye's next publication after Doubtfire was a return to children's literature, a freewheeling version of Beowulf which has remained in print in many editions since 1968. In 1970, he published another children's book, Wishing Gold, and received the James Kennaway Memorial Award for his collection of short stories, Tales I Told My Mother (1969).
During the early 1970s Nye wrote several plays for BBC radio including “A Bloody Stupit Hole” (1970), “Reynolds, Reynolds” (1971), and a version of Penthesilea by Heinrich von Kleist (1971). He was also commissioned by Covent Garden to write an unpublished libretto for Harrison Birtwistle's opera, Kronia (1970). Nye held the position of writer in residence at the University of Edinburgh, 1976-1977, during which time he received the Guardian fiction prize, followed by the 1976 Hawthornden Prize for his novel Falstaff.
He continued to write poetry, publishing Darker Ends (1969) and Divisions on a Ground (1976), and to prepare editions of other poets with whose work he felt an affinity: Sir Walter Ralegh, William Barnes, and Laura Riding. His own Collected Poems appeared in 1995. His selected poems, entitled The Rain and The Glass, published in 2005, won the Cholmondeley Award. From 1977 he lived in County Cork, Ireland. Although his novels have won prizes and been translated into many languages, it is as a poet that he would probably have preferred to be remembered. The critic Gabriel Josipovici described him as "one of the most interesting poets writing today, with a voice unlike that of any of his contemporaries."
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
September 25, 2014
I bought this slim volume of poems when I was in eighth grade. Still love them all these years later.
Here's a sample:
Darker Ends
Here's my hand turned to shadows on the wall-
Black horse, black talking fox, black crocodile-
Quick fingers beckoning darkness from white flame,
Until my son screams, 'No! chase them away!'
Why do I scare him? Fearful of my love
I'm cruelly comforted by his warm fear,
Seeing the night made perfect on the wall
In my handwriting, if illegible,
Still full of personal beasts, and terrible.
Abjure that art- it is no true delight
To lie and turn the dark to darker ends
Because my heart's dissatisfied and cold.
To tell the truth, when he is safe asleep,
I shut my eyes and let the darkness in.
Here's a sample:
Darker Ends
Here's my hand turned to shadows on the wall-
Black horse, black talking fox, black crocodile-
Quick fingers beckoning darkness from white flame,
Until my son screams, 'No! chase them away!'
Why do I scare him? Fearful of my love
I'm cruelly comforted by his warm fear,
Seeing the night made perfect on the wall
In my handwriting, if illegible,
Still full of personal beasts, and terrible.
Abjure that art- it is no true delight
To lie and turn the dark to darker ends
Because my heart's dissatisfied and cold.
To tell the truth, when he is safe asleep,
I shut my eyes and let the darkness in.
Displaying 1 of 1 review