Selected Poems
Bill Manhire, by trade a medievalist and by vocation a poet, has – like those writers who invented and developed English poetry – helped to make something charged and original out of his landscapes (including Antarctica) and his language. He was New Zealand's first Poet Laureate and is one of its most popular and entertaining writers. This book traces his evolution over more than four decades, from "The Elaboration" (1972) through to "The Victims of Lightning" (2010) and new poems. It is the story of a love affair with the planet: "The world is a constant amazement, / always on the move".
About the author
Bill Manhire was born in Invercargill in 1946. He was his country's inaugural Poet Laureate and has won the New Zealand Book Award for Poetry four times. He holds a personal chair at the Victoria University of Wellington, where he directs the celebrated creative writing programme and the International Institute of Modern Letters. His volume of short fiction, South Pacific, was published by Carcanet in 1994.
Reviews
"Manhire can be a beautifully elemental poet... [His] bright, innocent quality of perception (what he himself has called 'whimsy') has had a liberating effect on New Zealand poetry" – Jeremy Noel-Tod, Culture, The Sunday Times
"A poet of considerable subtlety and strength, a dangerous writer..." – Charles Causley, Landfall
"He has matured sturdily, and grown to an impressive height, and put down roots so tenacious in their grip on the world that it'll take the devil of a wind to topple him" – Michael Hulse, New Zealand Books
"This is richly human work, which acknowledges its – and our – limitations and keeps reaching for the high windows, regardless" – Hugh Roberts, NZ Listener
"A poet of considerable subtlety and strength, a dangerous writer..." – Charles Causley, Landfall
"He has matured sturdily, and grown to an impressive height, and put down roots so tenacious in their grip on the world that it'll take the devil of a wind to topple him" – Michael Hulse, New Zealand Books
"This is richly human work, which acknowledges its – and our – limitations and keeps reaching for the high windows, regardless" – Hugh Roberts, NZ Listener