The evolution of Margaret Atwood's poetry illuminates one of our major literary talents. Here, as in her novels, is intensity combined with sardonic detachment, and in these early poems her genius for a level stare at the ordinary is wonderfully apparent. Just as startling is her ability to contrast the everyday with the terrifying: "Each time I hit a key / on my electric typewriter / speaking of peaceful trees / another village explodes." Her poetic voice is crystal clear, insistent, unmistakably her own. Through bus trips and postcards, wilderness and trivia, she reflects the passion and energy of a writer intensely engaged with her craft and the world. Two former collections, Poems 1965-1975 and Poems 1976-1986, are presented together with her latest collection, Morning in the Burned House, in this omnibus that represents the development of a major poet. (From Virago Press)
Author Interviews
Media Video | Archives : Margaret Atwood on Canadian literature
Caption: In this interview from 1973, author Margaret Atwood talks about her writing career and the struggles of Canadian literature to find its own identity.
The poems Game After Supper and Interview with a Tourist are from Margaret Atwood's collection Procedures for Underground published by Oxford University Press, 1971.