History of the Child

Penelope Shuttle has lived in Cornwall since 1970, is the widow of the poet Peter Redgrove, and has a grown-up daughter Zoe, who works in the field of sustainable energy.Her first collection of poems,The Orchard Upstairs (1981) was followed by six other books from Oxford University Press, The Child-Stealer (1983), The Lion from Rio (1986), Adventures with My Horse (1988), Taxing the Rain (1994), Building a City for Jamie (1996) and Selected Poems 1980-1996 (1998), and then A Leaf Out of His Book (1999) from Oxford Poets/Carcanet, and Redgrove’s Wife (2006) and Sandgrain and Hourglass (2010) from Bloodaxe Books. Redgrove’s Wife was shortlisted for both the Forward Prize and the T.S. Eliot Prize in 2006. Sandgrain and Hourglass is a Poetry Book Society Recommendation. Her retrospective, Unsent: New & Selected Poems 1980-2012 (Bloodaxe Books, 2012), drew on ten collections published over three decades plus the title-collection, Unsent. Her later collections from Bloodaxe are Will you walk a little faster? (2017), Lyonesse (2021) and History of the Child (2026). Her double collection Lyonesse was longlisted for the Laurel Prize 2022. Heath, a collaboration about Hounslow Heath with John Greening, was published by Nine Arches in 2016. First published as a novelist, her fiction includes All the Usual Hours of Sleeping (1969), Wailing Monkey Embracing a Tree (1973) and Rainsplitter in the Zodiac Garden (1977). With Peter Redgrove, she is co-author of The Wise Wound: Menstruation and Everywoman (1978) and Alchemy for Women: Personal Transformation Through Dreams and the Female Cycle (1995), as well as a collection of poems, The Hermaphrodite Album (1973), and two novels, The Terrors of Dr Treviles: A Romance (1974) and The Glass Cottage: A Nautical Romance (1976).

A singular, arresting and moving book... two collections in one, hinged by a theme of loss. Lyonesse is Cornwall’s mythical kingdom – its Paradise Lost... It is this kingdom that has fired – watered – Shuttle’s imagination and produced an extraordinary flow of work... Shuttle’s Lyonesse is fresh, clear and convincing. It gives grief geography, an address. I believe in its direct dispatches from a submerged front line.

• Father Lear12 Father Lear13 Orchard End, or The Laboratory of Continuous Effort14 Beautifully done15 Rome16 Wallace17 Big ships18 Hearts by night19 Kew Gardens, 191320 Hallam Street21 Transparent22 Self-portrait as Katharine of Aragon23 Dog25 The Lucidity (or Otherwise) of a Swan26 Gardens where there’s no need for a garden27 Uncommon Prayer28 Wild Rose29 Washing the Lips30 Some had their mouths stopped with gold33 Osterley Park Summertide Trees34 197635 the colour rain in the lavender36 Rue in Wine37 The Half-guest38 Verbs39 Yoshinaga40 Observed Phenomena and Fancied Correspondences41 the opposite of night42 thou twingest me therewith Beloved as doth a pair of tongs 43 it came as if called44 long-lostBook of Lullabies46 cockcrow47 cradled in the roots of a great tree48 homestead49 the candle50 three green gowns of silence51 I feel sorry for the anchors, sorry for the piers,52 Contemplative Promenade Experience54 infancy of the weather60 early 21st-century ice loss61 the false child62 written on a linden leaf63 cunnikin64 summoning the ferry from the shade of the willow65 book of lullabies70 all souls’ nightHistory of the Child73 newefangel74 own judge and jury75 notes on her background76 nine years old77 child London of London78 binding with briars, my joys and desires79 in a strange land80 Matty81 her first-nation name is birthstone82 who made thee?83 child’s childhood84 child tilts the planet sideways85 school play 195787 simple question88 she wants to be famous, so89 sold her bed and lay on the straw90 Old Pretender Doll91 plane to Fargo 195992 Lucifer93 wearing a tunic cut down from…95 sleeping rough in class96 frequent subject of Japanese art97 valentine’s day98 oh but99 white road by the bombsite100 FAQ101 child as linden shield102 she’s not the guest of honour103 glad rag104 memo to the child105 La Pucelle106 when she was the Queen of Maidens107 st elmo’s chapel108 down lullaby lane109 what is trauma?110 what is happiness?111 willing sacrificelittle table115 little table 123 Notes