At the Source : A Writer's Year

At the Source reflects upon a writer's deep inheritance of language, myth and nature. Her creative journeys begin from those sources. The book opens with a house, Blaen Cwrt. A river rises, a tributary which will flow on to the Atlantic, and a family has its roots there. There the Welsh poet Gillian Clarke writes in what was the byre, looking across a landscape worked and imagined by generations of farmers and poets. Six chapters explore the relationship of places and languages, culture and family, geology and myth, in a poet's imagination. At the heart of the book is a journal of the writer's year. Lyrical, wise, meticulously observant, often humorous, Clarke records the experience of living and working on the land, observing the world from a particular place, the continuity and remaking of the source. "At the Source reflects upon a writer's deep inheritance of language, myth and nature. Her creative journeys begin from these sources. The book opens with a house, Blaen Cwrt. A river rises, a tributary which will flow on to the Atlantic, and a family has its roots there. There the Welsh poet Gillian Clarke writes in what was the byre, looking across a landscape worked and imagined by generations of farmers and poets." "Six chapters explore the relationship of places and languages, culture and family, geology and myth, in a poet's imaginations. At the heart of the book is a journal of the writer's year. Lyrical, wise, meticulously observant, often humorous, Clarke records the experience of living and working on the land, observing the world from a particular place, the continuity and remaking of the source."--Jacket Fusing poetry, memoir, and nature writing, this evocative prose collection conducts a literary exploration of place and language. Reflecting upon the geography, history, and mythology of Wales, the verse delves into the sources of both Welsh and English dialects while incorporating essays and journal extracts, creating a seasonal portrait of the beloved Welsh landscape. From descriptions of lambing and hay making to ruminations on agriculture and ecological destruction, this is an enthralling depiction of the world as seen from the captivating countryside.