{"product_id":"small-pointed-things-9781800174771","title":"Small Pointed Things","description":"\u003cp\u003ePunctuated by rhyme and shaped by traditional forms, the poems in \u003ci\u003eSmall Pointed Things\u003c\/i\u003e turn encounters with the natural world and scenes from family life into acts of self-discovery. Poignant and funny in equal measure, many of these poems address human concerns by comically reimagining them through the analogous 'lives' of plants and animals - from snowdrops to love-lies-bleeding, manatees to warthogs, scorpions and moths to bats and swallows. Animals and insects provide opportunities for reflection: the difference between bats and swallows unpacks the complexity of spousal relations, two down-and-out warthogs arouse sudden, if unwarranted shame, and a pair of singing blackbirds tenderly expose the secret to marital compatibility and compromise. There are also poems about poetry and ideas, lasting love and grief. Formally deft and classically inspired, with hints of Wordsworth, Frost and Marianne Moore, the poems in \u003ci\u003eSmall Pointed Things\u003c\/i\u003e seek to uncover various forms of knowledge while taking aim, ultimately, at knowingness itself.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eErica McAlpine\u003c\/b\u003e is Associate Professor of English at Oxford and the A.C. Cooper Fellow in English at St Edmund Hall. Her book \u003ci\u003eThe Poet's Mistake\u003c\/i\u003e appeared from Princeton University Press in 2020; a collection of poems, \u003ci\u003eThe Country Gambler\u003c\/i\u003e, was published by Shearsman in 2016.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Carcanet Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51720983249170,"sku":"9781800174771","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_7c6f21ee-dce9-4b50-8c8f-661e901d7c5b.jpg?v=1762944533","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/small-pointed-things-9781800174771","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}