In the dusty attic of Iris Murdoch’s Oxford home lay a battered, black chest. In 2016, when the chest was finally opened, Murdoch’s life in poems was revealed.
Renowned for her fiercely intelligent novels and groundbreaking philosophy, Murdoch was one of the great writers of the twentieth century. Yet she is also known for her equally radical life – intense friendships, relationships with both men and women, and an open marriage – about which much has, often controversially, been written. Now, her tightly wrought and vivid poems reveal a new, deeply personal account in Murdoch’s own voice. They range over the preoccupations closest to her heart, from the state of Ireland to memories of a first love lost in the Second World War.
Murdoch kept her poems private or addressed them to specific individuals. This did not affect the attention she paid to her craft. Always ‘obsessed’ with poetry, her technical skill is clear even in the musicality of the early pieces, maturing in the extraordinary, impassioned cycle ‘Conversations with a Prince’ and in the liberation of free verse.
Above all, these are masterful poems about love; there is no writer who reveals its secrets quite like Iris Murdoch. These are essential poems for those who, like her, think deeply about romance and friendship, jealousy and commitment, and about all the shades of love in our lives.
