'This book is a living, guiding, singing thing... I will cherish it and revisit it as long as I live' Max Porter
'One of the finest living poets writing in English' Raymond Antrobus
A daring, genre-defying work of non-fiction from one of our greatest poets
Alice Oswald goes in search of poetry in its original, wildest form - before it was written down, before it belonged to a single voice - and finds it still speaking all around us.
What begins as an attempt to 'interview' Homer becomes a thrilling exploration of an anonymous tradition that exists beyond authorship, spanning a world of singers, storytellers, mourners and listeners, of nightingales, grasshoppers and rivers.
Zigzagging through ballads, riddles, pibrochs, drama, interviews, artificial intelligence and sonnets, Rhapsody is a restless, miraculous exploration of poetry in its most vital form, and a resounding manifesto for the oral tradition.
At once intimate and expansive, Oswald invites us to listen to the voices that shape us, and to recognise poetry not as a solitary, written art, but as a communal, essential human inheritance.
| ISBN: | 9781787332218 |
| Publication date: | 17th September 2026 |
| Author: | Alice Oswald |
| Publisher: | Jonathan Cape an imprint of Vintage Publishing |
| Format: | Hardback |
| Pagination: | 272 pages |
| Genres: |
Literary studies: poetry and poets Literary studies: ancient, classical and medieval Ancient Greek and Roman literature |
'This book is a living, guiding, singing thing... I will cherish it and revisit it as long as I live' Max Porter
'One of the finest living poets writing in English' Raymond Antrobus
A daring, genre-defying work of non-fiction from one of our greatest poets
Alice Oswald goes in search of poetry in its original, wildest form - before it was written down, before it belonged to a single voice - and finds it still speaking all around us.
What begins as an attempt to 'interview' Homer becomes a thrilling exploration of an anonymous tradition that exists beyond authorship, spanning a world of singers, storytellers, mourners and listeners, of nightingales, grasshoppers and rivers.
Zigzagging through ballads, riddles, pibrochs, drama, interviews, artificial intelligence and sonnets, Rhapsody is a restless, miraculous exploration of poetry in its most vital form, and a resounding manifesto for the oral tradition.
At once intimate and expansive, Oswald invites us to listen to the voices that shape us, and to recognise poetry not as a solitary, written art, but as a communal, essential human inheritance.
Rhapsody features in the following genres: Literary studies: poetry and poets, Literary studies: ancient, classical and medieval, Ancient Greek and Roman literature
Rhapsody is available in Hardback
Rhapsody was written by Alice Oswald and published by Jonathan Cape an imprint of Vintage Publishing
Rhapsody has 272 pages
£18.00