The Close Chaplet

by Laura (Riding) Jackson, Laura Riding Gottschalk, Mark Jacobs (Editor)

Laura Riding’s first volume was published in 1926 by Leonard and Virginia Woolf ’s Hogarth Press when the poet was 25. As in the case of Coleridge’s early visionary poems, ‘Kubla Khan’ and ‘The Rime of the Ancient Mariner’, The Close Chaplet sets the scene for the rest of her life’s work, except that where his early poetic impetus fal¬tered hers expanded steadily through into her Collected Poems (1938) and then further into The Telling (1972) and other late prose work.
This new edition includes Riding’s first poetic manifesto, ‘A Prophecy or a Plea’ (1925), which sets the context for the poems. Mark Jacobs’ ground-breaking introduction demonstrates how this short essay turned poetry on its head, with the ensuing poems of The Close Chaplet, from the much-anthologized (if little understood) ‘The Quids’ to the remarkable but neglected ‘The Lady of the Apple’ as the consequence.
‘With a diverse play of imagination she combines in her poetry a sound intellectuality and a keen irony which gives her work a substance not often found in contemporary American poetry. Her work is philosophical in trend, yet not divorced from life, but generally tense with emotion and concerned with profound issues .... which gives her poetry the stamp of an orginal personality.’ — Citation for the Nashville prize, The Fugitive, 1924
‘This new and splendid edition “unearths the gem”, to adapt the poet’s own phrase from her opening poem of this, Laura Riding’s first contribution to twentieth century poetry and thought. It should convince a new generation of the originality and enduring value of her work.’
Jack Blackmore, author of The Unthronged Oracle
‘The excellent Trent Editions…’ Boyd Tonkin, The Independent

Genres: Poetry

128 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1926

About the author

Laura (Riding) Jackson was an American poet, critic, novelist, essayist and short story writer.

1923-1926 as Laura Riding Gottschalk
1927-1939 as Laura Riding
1963-1991 as Laura (Riding) Jackson

She also published under the pseudonym Madeleine Vara.

Reviews

[Kathleen · Rating 2 out of 5]

This review is actually of the Ugly Duckling Presse edition which is physically gorgeous--a beautiful book object.

From Mark Jacobs' introduction: "She saw men of the present at the desperate, historical end of their madness: the compulsion to be or to become or make themselves into everything that they can see; to make sure that everything is themselves, even God. Their essential mode of thought is antagonistic to the world they inhabit, aiming to conquer the world, including women, and envelop it. Women, she believed, do not think that way" (xxx).

Where Ghosts Look In

The outer mind of passion is through a door
Opening inward. Histories of passions
Peer into the dark and turn away,
Whispering: "With us there was more light.
Ghosts looking in at casements said,
'Love is in all the rooms,' and came in
And were fond again and forgot death."
But never so, passion never knew, never knows.
Dark ends at the threshold and begins,
And only ghosts are where ghosts look in (70).

[David D · Rating 5 out of 5]

This edition serves two invaluable functions: 1 - gets this volume back in print and in full after almost 100 years of neglect. 2 - the intro provides a good orientation to LR's work, uncomplicated honesty being the key.

JK rowling has a billion dollars and LR is fading away. What a world we live in jesus...

[Luna Miguel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Uf. En una noche de insomnio leí por casualidad una reseña de Bárbara Mingo en Letras Libres y al día siguiente corrí a comprarme este libro absolutamente brillante. La casualidad quiso que, justamente, en la mesilla de noche, yo tuviera uno de Robert Graves acechándome —no era para mí, se lo estaba guardando a otra persona—. No sé qué más decir: la fe, poemas que esconden algunas de las mejores ideas que haya leído sobre el cariño como motor del pensamiento y una traducción muy buena de Eva Gallud.