Two-Part Invention

Elizabeth Garrett was born in London in 1958, and grew up in Channel Islands. Her first book of poems, The Rule of Three (Bloodaxe Books, 1991), was selected for the New Generation Poets promotion in 1994, and followed by a second collection, A Two-Part Invention, in 1998. Her poems appeared in Carol Rumens’ anthology New Women Poets (Bloodaxe Books, 1990), and she was one of the writers featured in Poetry Review’s ‘New British Poets’ special issue in 1987. A pamphlet selection of her poetry, The Mortal Light, was published by the Mandeville Press in 1990. After completing her D.Phil. at Oxford University on the Fool in modern English and French poetry, she worked in the Bodleian Library and for the Voltaire Foundation, later becoming a musician.

It is a “metaphysical” poetry (John Donne is one of the few ascertainable influences), almost glacial in its composure, intangible and profoundly erotic.