The Thing in the Gap-Stone Style: Alice Oswald’s Acoustic Arrangements

Alice Oswald’s poems are acoustic structures resembling cairns or drystone walls in that they are constructed out of the sonic materials found in the poet’s environment. Focusing on Oswald’s lyric poems, this article highlights the importance of listening in Oswald’s poetics of place. It recognises the influence of poets such as Homer, Sir Thomas Wyatt and Ted Hughes in the formation of Oswald’s eco-prosody, while also seeking to acknowledge the part played by manual labourers who dwell in the poet’s landscape.