The informing spirit in A Two-Part Invention is music – in the cadences of the language, the forms and resolutions of the poems. For Elizabeth Garrett, a memorable poem is a kind of two-part invention, an interplay of the reader’s imagination and the poet’s intention. As in Bach’s deceptively simple studies of that name, when the two discrete melodic lines of reader’s and poet’s imagination run parallel, polyphony is suggested.
Elizabeth Garrett's debut volume The Rule of Three was one of the 20 'New Generation Poets' titles in 1994. A Two-Part Invention is her second collection.
‘It is a “metaphysical” poetry (John Donne is one of the few ascertainable influences), almost glacial in its composure, intangible and profoundly erotic’ – Francesco Rugnoni, L’Indice (Italy).
‘As near to a pure lyric poet as we’ll get in our times’ – Peter Forbes, Poetry Review.
‘There is a static, frozen moment quality about many of the poems…they are classically cool…they allude to passion… innocence and experience, life and death’ – Philip Gross, Poetry Review.
‘A rare talent…a poet who knows the slipperiness of the world and of words, who finds both intriguing as well as dangerous’ – Lawrence Sail.
‘Her poetry displays a formal grace and sinewy intelligence across subjects as diverse as a bowl of porridge, a sculpture by Degas, or the eternal themes of love, memory, family and time’ – Maura Dooley.
