Ice Hours

by Marion Starling Boyer

Ice Hours is a suite of poems set in majestic and severe Antarctica, chronicling the nearly forgotten story of the Ross Sea party. Weaving historical and scientific research into lilting verse, Marion Starling Boyer follows the adventurers who sailed on the Aurora at the beginning of World War I to support Sir Ernest Shackleton’s 1914–1917 Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition. These poems reveal the characters of the explorers and the conflicts they faced during the two years they labored to lay a chain of supply depots across the ice, unaware that Shackleton would never come because his ship, the Endurance , sank on the opposite side of the continent. The Ross Sea men battled frozen wastelands, scurvy, snow-blindness, starvation, hypothermia, and frostbite while their ship, the Aurora , was ice-trapped, marooning them without vital equipment, clothing, fuel, and food. Through lyric and formal poetic forms, Ice Hours brings to life the close of a heroic period interwoven with the brooding voice of the Antarctic continent, evoking themes of what occurs when humanity engages with the sublime.
 

Genres: Poetry, Nature

120 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2023

Reviews

[Cheryl · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a fascinating read! Each poem, a journal entry, creatively written and evoking as to this horrid piece of forsaken history! Boyer gives voice to the 3 men of the Ross Sea Party who died and those that survived. A story rarely told, yet just as vital in the chapters of Sir Ernest Shackleton’s Antarctica expedition. These brave men, facing unfathomable circumstances to reach their goal, to secure the future that never transpired. Horrific, yet tender as they write home, keep their own morale up, sacrifice their own bodies for naught. But how could they know? They had a mission. They did not give up, but in death.
These poems are beautifully executed, evoking such soul and courage. Even the sledge dogs are endeared.
Fierce!

[Kat · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have no idea how to rate this book. It is nothing like I ever read before. First, I wouldn´t say it´s a collection of poems. I would rather say it´s a collection of lyrical stories based on a historical event. Second, I would make bigger space (say three lines? or use some sort of a graphic marker) in between particular parts of the text, because at times it´s not exactly clear what belongs where.
Overall I really enjoyed this book. Polar expeditions are so gripping. I think that the author told the story of ice and struggle well.

[Seher · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you NetGalley and Wheelbarrow Books for the chance to read and review this ARC.

While as a whole I don't think I'm fond of this book, there were some really powerful moments that I'll come back to. It's definitely a book I will read again in the future before deciding how I'll feel. The opening poem, 'Perhaps I was Eden' is one of my favourites and I loved the Gladys Mackintosh poems.

[grace · Rating 4 out of 5]

This poetry collection is really interesting and I’ve never read anything like it. Many of the poems were incredibly beautiful. I especially liked the poems personifying Antarctica. I also liked the integration of quotes and excerpts throughout. Overall, I enjoyed the book. It introduced me to a new topic in an intriguing and thought-provoking way.

I was completely unfamiliar with the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition, so I had to stop about a third of the way through and read about it on Wikipedia. I also thought the characters were hard to keep track of, in part because I didn’t realize there was a handy list of people and key locations in the Notes section until I’d finished the book! I’d recommend reading the Notes section first.

The introduction does a good job of connecting this collection to climate change, but I felt the connection was lacking in the poems. Reflecting on Antarctica in 2022 without making any connections to climate change feels like a glaring omission. The first poem is about how Antarctica shifted from tropical to cold (“I was tropical once / Then, I became so cold”), so it seems to me like the collection should have ended with a reference to the current anthropogenic shift affecting the Antarctic climate.

If you love history, adventure, and poetry, this book is for you!

[Blue · Rating 5 out of 5]

Shackleton and his men most certainly look at life differently than the rest of us. There ability to risk life and limb comes from a place other than Earth. On the Endurance caked with ice there is no fear of death's unknown logic. They call out in faith as they reach their frostbitten hands out for a last meal. Juxtaposed to their swollen eyes are hundreds of whales but bloody hands. Gladys Mackintosh's poem is sadly beautiful. The narrator's voice in the poem speaks of a newborn. She wishes for him. She asks one question. "Where are you?"

[Megan Stolz · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic poetry collection. This is a great read for anyone who likes their poetry to tell a story because it's written about and in the voices of the members of the Ross Sea party, which is the other half of the Ernest Shackleton expedition (which gets way more attention). It's beautiful and heartbreaking and full of humanity. I picked this up at Prologue Bookshop in Columbus, Ohio (while there for a conference), because it was on display — I think Marion Starling Boyer was coming to do a reading? And she's an Ohio poet — and I'm so glad I did.

[Carol Chapin · Rating 5 out of 5]

A short, but exquisite book of the story of the Ross Sea Party of the Shackleton Antarctic Expedition of 1914, set in verse. Lovely

[Pamela Anderson-Bartholet · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is powerful, enlightening, and chilling (pun intended). I highly recommend it.