''The Water Table'' is a collection of poetry written by

Philip Gross Philip Gross (born 1952) is a poet, novelist, playwright, children's writer and academic based in England and Wales. He is currently Professor of Creative Writing at the University of South Wales. Biography Philip Gross was born in 1952 at D ...

in 2009, published by

Bloodaxe Books Bloodaxe Books is a British publishing house specializing in poetry. History Bloodaxe Books was founded in 1978 in Newcastle upon Tyne by Neil Astley, who is still editor and managing director. Bloodaxe moved its editorial office to Northumbe ...

. It won the 2009 T.S Eliot poetry Prize.

Themes

In her review in The Guardian, Polly Clark states that Gross did not compare water in traditional metaphors but instead the intrinsic physical properties of water itself. She noted that the poems were written not only with educated, technical terms and knowledge but with common everyday phrases. Mentioning the balance of these writing methods mirrors the poems' focus on the trans-formative nature of water which constantly changes states. From his interview with Gross, Stephen Adams of The Telegraph writes : "At its heart is a simple theme - the ever changing nature of water. But Gross said that the whole world - both natural and man-made - could be reflected in that liquid mirror."

Awards

Gross was given the

T. S. Eliot Prize The T. S. Eliot Prize for Poetry is a prize that was, for many years, awarded by the Poetry Book Society (UK) to "the best collection of new verse in English first published in the UK or the Republic of Ireland" in any particular year. The Priz ...

by Valerie Eliot, T. S. Eliot's widow, in London. Gross expressed his astonishment at winning the T.S Eliot award over more celebrated poets including three former T.S. Eliot prizewinners.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Water Table (poetry collection), The 2009 poetry books Poetry collections T. S. Eliot Prize-winning works Bloodaxe Books books