''Inside the Wave'' is

Helen Dunmore Helen Dunmore FRSL (12 December 1952 – 5 June 2017) was a British poet, novelist, and short story and children's writer. Her best known works include the novels ''Zennor in Darkness'', '' A Spell of Winter'' and '' The Siege'', and her last ...

's last poetry collection, about impending death, published shortly before her death. In the 2017

Costa Book Awards The Costa Book Awards were a set of annual literary awards recognising English-language books by writers based in UK and Ireland. Originally named the Whitbread Book Awards from 1971 to 2005 after its first sponsor, the Whitbread company, the ...

it won the Poetry Award and the Book of the Year Award.

Book

(1952–2017) published ''Inside the Wave'', her final work, on 27 April 2017, just over a month before her death. The poems reflect on her coming death and her diagnosis with cancer. In the 2017 Costa Book Awards, the book won the Costa Poetry Award and overall Book of the Year Award, only the second time these have been given posthumously. The collection contains 48 poems, including 5 "Versions from

Catullus Gaius Valerius Catullus (; 84 - 54 BCE), often referred to simply as Catullus (, ), was a Latin poet of the late Roman Republic who wrote chiefly in the neoteric style of poetry, focusing on personal life rather than classical heroes. His ...

", a Roman poet, and three poems that relate to

Homer Homer (; grc, Ὅμηρος , ''Hómēros'') (born ) was a Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Homer is considered one of the ...

's ''

Odyssey The ''Odyssey'' (; grc, Ὀδύσσεια, Odýsseia, ) is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by modern audiences. As with the ''Iliad'', th ...

'', the eponymous "Inside the Wave", describing Odysseus back home from his travels, "Odysseus to

Elpenor In Greek mythology, Elpenor (; Ancient Greek: Ἐλπήνωρ, gen.: Ἐλπήνορος), also spelled Elpinor , was the youngest comrade of Odysseus. While on the island of Circe, he became drunk and decided to spend the night on the roof. In t ...

" and "My Daughter as

Penelope Penelope ( ; Ancient Greek: Πηνελόπεια, ''Pēnelópeia'', or el, Πηνελόπη, ''Pēnelópē'') is a character in Homer's ''Odyssey.'' She was the queen of Ithaca and was the daughter of Spartan king Icarius and naiad Periboea. Pe ...

". The last poem in the collection, "Hold out your arms", is addressed to death,

personified Personification occurs when a thing or abstraction is represented as a person, in literature or art, as a type of anthropomorphic metaphor. The type of personification discussed here excludes passing literary effects such as "Shadows hold their ...

as a mother. It was written 10 days before her death, and was added to the collection for the second impression of the book, published in June 2017. It begins: The poet

Moniza Alvi Moniza Alvi (born 2 February 1954) is a Pakistani-British poet and writer. She has won several well-known prizes for her verse. Life and education Moniza Alvi was born in Lahore, Pakistan, to a Pakistani father and a British mother. Her father ...

stated that she had found it easy to decide to give the Costa poetry award to Dunmore's book, saying that the poems "can connect us with each other, at a deeper level", offering sharp and uncomfortable truths which were however "life-affirming and beautiful". The award's judges, noting that the book examined "the borderline between the living and the dead" called the collection "an astonishing set of poems – a final, great achievement." The collection was featured on BBC Radio 4's '' A Good Read'' in November 2020.

References

{{Helen Dunmore 2017 poetry books English poetry collections Bloodaxe Books books