Thomas Blackburn Selected Poems
Edited with an introduction by Julia Blackburn
‘This thing of darkness I acknowledge mine’ Shakespeare, 'The Tempest'
In his early poetry Thomas Blackburn (1916-1977) often used the transforming power of myth to confront the demons of fear and alcoholism that haunted him all his life. In his later work he wrote vivid descriptions of the natural world and the mountains that he loved, and he chronicled his own spiritual quest which ultimately led him to an acceptance of himself and of his own mortality.
'Thomas Blackburn Selected Poems' is published by Carcanet Press.