The Bees

 

‘Poetry is too often overlooked in favour of novels and celebrity biographies; Duffy’s first new collection as Poet Laureate reminds us just how wonderful the form can be…. This beautifully presented volume is eloquent, simple, and (seemingly) effortlessly moving’ Diva magazine

‘If Rapture was an imposing display of Duffy’s virtuosity and versatility, those same qualities are repeated here with fresh abundance and a sense, too, that Duffy as again remaking herself as a poet… This is a magnificent collection of shimmering lyric poetry by a poet who can move from spare to opulent language without any attendant discord. Every word matters in a Duffy poem, and every poem is “a spell if kinds,/ that keeps things living in the written line”’ Irish Times

‘Wonderfully varied… Here’s a mixter maxter of every kind of Duffy poem: angry, political, elegiac, witty, nakedly honest, accessible, mysterious. Here are the willed, the skilled, the passionate ecological pleas and exhortations, the other voices, the lists and litanies, and, above all, the lovely lyrics of longing and loneliness and sorrow laced with ephemeral moments of almost-acceptance, lightness and grace. [Some] will sting you to tears. The elegies for that much-missed mother are the most moving poems in the whole book. “Cold” will stop your own heart for a moment. Duffy is brazen enough to write words such as besotted, smitten…and to bring it all off brilliantly. To float like a butterfly, sting like a bee’ Guardian

‘The bees of Duffy’s title recur throughout the book, announcing the poet’s devotion to her vocation and her mastery of it… Gusto strains against sorrow, both general and particular… The tension created by these darker tones tests Duffy’s confidence and makes her moments of levity more poignant, delivering poems that are sparer, purer and often more musical than ever before’ Financial Times

‘[Duffy] has such remarkable gifts as a poet of grace, dexterity and clarity. And there are poems here that are unforced and beautiful: gifts… “Water" is perfectly controlled, yet written with what could almost be mistaken for casualness. It carries its emotional weight effortlessly. It acknowledges three generations, needing one another in ordinary ways. The "parched" at the end is beautiful and unlaboured. In every sense, it holds water’ Observer

‘Duffy’s publishers have done her proud with this handsome volume… Recent poets laureate seem to have found that the honour has a dismal effect on their poetic powers, but on the evidence of this lively volume, Duffy’s muse is still on fine form’ Daily Mail

‘Compassion and empathy are prevalent… Suffused with keen perception and insight, it’s a resonant collection taking in ecology, spirituality, politics, love and more. Duffy displays the breadth of her subject matter and talent throughout’ Big Issue

‘a beautiful new collection’ Easy Living’s ‘Gift Guide’

‘the perfect present for the woman in your life’  Something for the Weekend, BBC