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y separately published work icon The Water Bearer selected work   poetry  
Issue Details: First known date: 2018... 2018 The Water Bearer
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'Water is contained in these poems in many different ways- from the water filling a second-hand cooler in an old farmhouse to ocean riptides and impassive dams; from swimming lessons to paddocks layered with water after rain. From scheme water, pipelines and a countryside in the grip of drought - the water in this collection is a many-sided metaphor.' (Publication summary)

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

    • Fremantle, Fremantle area, South West Perth, Perth, Western Australia,: Fremantle Press , 2018 .
      image of person or book cover 5177537730863047826.jpg
      This image has been sourced from online.
      Extent: 96p.
      Note/s:
      • Published January 2018

      ISBN: 9781925164954

Works about this Work

Susan Laura Sullivan Reviews The Water Bearer by Tracy Ryan Susan Laura Sullivan , 2019 single work review
— Appears in: Plumwood Mountain [Online] , February 2019;

— Review of The Water Bearer Tracy Ryan , 2018 selected work poetry
Review of ‘The Water Bearer’ by Tracy Ryan Caitlin Maling , 2018 single work review
— Appears in: Editor's Desk - 2018 2018;

— Review of The Water Bearer Tracy Ryan , 2018 selected work poetry
Review Short : Tracy Ryan’s The Water Bearer Anne-Marie Newton , 2018 single work review
— Appears in: Cordite Poetry Review , 1 May no. 86 2018;

‘… the poem / will cover a multitude of signs.’ This line, appearing early in West Australian author Tracy Ryan’s ninth poetry collection, can be read as connecting directly to what’s been posited as the very purpose of poetry: to confound or thicken language, to free it from its mere communicative dimension, as Walter Benjamin might put it, and allow it to bump up against things-in-themselves. In fact, this line also bears witness to what the volume as a whole achieves. For the remarkable poetic field that is The Water Bearer sets in motion a multitude of signs and their constellations, but importantly, through the skill of a poet at the height of her powers, also leaves them covered. A line from a later poem (ostensibly about the function of windows) illustrates this achievement differently: ‘Hold threads under tension, a frame.’ With the multiple readings the collection provokes it becomes evident that the volume itself performs as a frame, holding together threads of signs, objects, meanings, but always ‘under tension’: the essential muteness of the outside – the overflow side of language, or what Rilke designated as ‘unsayable’ – feels ever pressing.'

Susan Laura Sullivan Reviews The Water Bearer by Tracy Ryan Susan Laura Sullivan , 2019 single work review
— Appears in: Plumwood Mountain [Online] , February 2019;

— Review of The Water Bearer Tracy Ryan , 2018 selected work poetry
Review of ‘The Water Bearer’ by Tracy Ryan Caitlin Maling , 2018 single work review
— Appears in: Editor's Desk - 2018 2018;

— Review of The Water Bearer Tracy Ryan , 2018 selected work poetry
Review Short : Tracy Ryan’s The Water Bearer Anne-Marie Newton , 2018 single work review
— Appears in: Cordite Poetry Review , 1 May no. 86 2018;

‘… the poem / will cover a multitude of signs.’ This line, appearing early in West Australian author Tracy Ryan’s ninth poetry collection, can be read as connecting directly to what’s been posited as the very purpose of poetry: to confound or thicken language, to free it from its mere communicative dimension, as Walter Benjamin might put it, and allow it to bump up against things-in-themselves. In fact, this line also bears witness to what the volume as a whole achieves. For the remarkable poetic field that is The Water Bearer sets in motion a multitude of signs and their constellations, but importantly, through the skill of a poet at the height of her powers, also leaves them covered. A line from a later poem (ostensibly about the function of windows) illustrates this achievement differently: ‘Hold threads under tension, a frame.’ With the multiple readings the collection provokes it becomes evident that the volume itself performs as a frame, holding together threads of signs, objects, meanings, but always ‘under tension’: the essential muteness of the outside – the overflow side of language, or what Rilke designated as ‘unsayable’ – feels ever pressing.'

Last amended 24 Jan 2018 08:21:04
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