Falling Awake (poetry collection)

Falling Awake is a 2016 poetry collection by English poet Alice Oswald, published by Jonathan Cape.^[1] Her seventh book of poetry,^[2] it won the 2016 Costa Poetry Award and the 2017 Griffin Poetry Prize.

Falling Awake

First edition (p/b)
Author	Alice Oswald
Language	English
Genre	Poetry
Publisher	Jonathan Cape
Publication date	7 July 2016
Publication place	United Kingdom
Pages	81
Awards	2016 Costa Poetry Award 2017 Griffin Poetry Prize
ISBN	9781910702437

The poems explore themes relating to nature, mutability, cycles and rebirth, as well as mythology.^[2][3][4] The final poem in the collection, Tithonus (46 Minutes in the Life of the Dawn), is meant to be experienced over the course of 46 minutes as when Oswald performs it live,^[5] the amount of time between pitch-darkness and dawn on a typical midsummer morning in her native Devon.^[3]

The book was met with critical acclaim upon release.^{[2][3][6][7][8][9]}

Critical reception

Upon its release, Falling Awake was met with widespread critical acclaim in a variety of publications, including The Guardian,^[2] The New Yorker,^[3] and The London Magazine.^[7]

Writing in The Guardian, Kate Kellaway described it as "an astonishing book of beauty, intensity and poise – a revelation."^[10]

Jeremy Noel-Tod wrote that "Falling Awake "glittering in the gaps between things" confirms [Oswald] as one of the most gifted English poets of the past 20 years" in The Sunday Times.^[11]

Awards

• Winner of the 2017 Griffin Poetry Prize.^[12]
• Winner of the 2016 Costa Poetry Prize.^[13]
• Shortlisted for the 2016 T.S. Eliot Prize.^[14]
• Shortlisted for the 2016 Forward Prize.^[15]
• Winner of the 2007 Forward Prize for Best Single Poem for "Dunt" which appears in this volume.^[15]

References

1. Oswald, Alice. Falling Awake. Penguin Books. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
2. "Falling Awake by Alice Oswald review – encounters with nature that defy language". The Guardian. 24 July 2016. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
3. Chiasson, Dan (5 September 2016). "Alice Oswald's Natural Terrors". The New Yorker. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
4. "Alice Oswald's Falling Awake | Friday Pick". B O D Y. 19 January 2018. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
5. "Alice Oswald: 'I like the way that the death of one thing is the beginning of something else'". The Guardian. 22 July 2016. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
6. Sampson, Fiona (19 August 2016). "Falling Awake by Alice Oswald review – a dazzling celebration of nature". The Guardian. Retrieved 26 March 2021.
7. Kwek, Theophilus (19 July 2016). "Falling Awake by Alice Oswald". The London Magazine. Retrieved 26 March 2021.
8. Bryce, Colette (2016). "Review: In Different Voices". Poetry Ireland Review (120). Poetry Ireland: 40–43. JSTOR 26799742. Retrieved 26 March 2021.
9. Seale, Yasmine (July 2016). "Falling Awake By Alice Oswald". Literary Review. Retrieved 26 March 2021.
10. "Falling Awake by Alice Oswald review – encounters with nature that defy language". The Guardian. 24 July 2016. Retrieved 1 April 2021.
11. Noel-Tod, Jeremy. "Books: Falling Awake by Alice Oswald". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 1 April 2021.
12. "Griffin Poetry Prize: 2017 Shortlist". Griffin Poetry Prize. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
13. "Costa Book Awards 2016 Category Winners Announced". Foyles. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
14. "T. S. Eliot Prize shortlist announced – The Poetry Society". Poetry Society. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
15. "Alice Oswald". Forward Arts Foundation. Retrieved 29 January 2021.