Andrew Motion's prose memoir, In the Blood (2006), was widely
acclaimed, praised as 'an act of magical retrieval' (Daily Telegraph)
and 'a hymn to familial love' (Independent). Now, 12 years later and
three years after moving to live and work in the United States, Motion
looks back once more to re-create a stunning biographical sequel - but
this time in verse.
Essex Clay rekindles, expands and gives a tragic resonance to subjects
that have haunted the poet throughout his writing life. In the first
part, he tells the story of his mother's riding accident, long
unconsciousness and slow death; in the second, he remembers the end of
his father's life; and in the third, he describes an encounter that
deepens the poem's tangled themes of loss and memory and retrieval.
Although the prevailing mood of the poem has a Tennysonian sweep and
melancholy, its wealth of physical details and its narrative momentum
make it as compelling as a fast-paced novel: a settling of accounts
which admits that final resolutions are impossible.
This includes an introduction written exclusively for Audible by Andrew
Motion, and a selection of additional poems only collected in this audio
edition.
