Bibliograph

Hold your own, poems, Kate Tempest

Type

Label

Hold your own, poems, Kate Tempest

Language

eng

Index

no index present

Literary Form

poetry

Main title

Hold your own

Responsibility statement

Kate Tempest

Sub title

poems

Summary

My heart throws its head against my ribs, it's denting every bone it's venting something it has known since I arrived and felt it beat. Kate Tempest, winner of the Ted Hughes Award for Brand New Ancients and widely regarded as the UK's leading spoken word poet, has produced a new poem-sequence of electrifying power. Based on the myth of the blind prophet Tiresias, Hold Your Own is a riveting tale of youth and experience, sex and love, wealth and poverty, community and alienation. Walking in the forest one morning, a young man disturbs two copulating snakes-and is punished by the goddess Hera, who turns him into a woman. This is only the beginning of his journey. Weaving elements of classical myth, autobiography and social commentary, Tempest uses the story of the gender-switching, clairvoyant Tiresias to create four sequences of poems, addressing childhood, manhood, womanhood, and late life. The result is a rhythmically hypnotic tour de force-and a hugely ambitious leap forward for one of the most broadly talented and compelling young writers today

Classification