Alice Oswald is an English poet born in 1966. Throughout high school, she never considered anything but writing as a future career. Thus, she continued her studies at New College, Oxford where she majored in classics. She has since won numerous accolades for her writing, including the Eric Gregory Award in 1994 and was shortlisted for the T.S. Eliot Award in 1997.
One of Oswald’s more recent compositions is Memorial: A Version of Homer’s Iliad. Memorial is a re-write of the Iliad, but it departs from Homer’s traditional narrative form. Instead, it focuses on those who lost their lives due to war violence. There are so many individuals who die in war, but Oswald shows that it is essential to remember each and every one and to honor the sacrifices they make for the greater good of their people.
Upon its publication, Memorial received rave reviews for its unique and heart-wrenching take on Homer’s The Iliad. Kate Kellaway of The Guardian praises Oswald for “giving each doomed person an extra breath of life, a moment in the sunlight of her attention, even though, sometimes, there is little or nothing to record about the life.” Critics almost always agree that Alice Oswald’s poetry is refreshing and timeless at the same time.
