Alice Oswald Poetry

Alice Oswald is a British poet whose first collection, The Thing in the Gap-Stone Stile was published in 1996. She won the T.S. Eliot Prize in 2002 and became the second BBC Radio 4’s Poet-in-Residence. She’s known for poetry that combines verse and prose.

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Eel Tail

Alice Oswald’s ‘Eel Tail’ explores nature’s elusiveness and mysteries through the enigmatic movements of eels that defy human understanding.

Oswald is a significant contemporary poet and a trained horticulturist. As a poet deeply rooted in ecology and the environment, she spent years researching various ecological and environmental aspects of specific locations for her different poetry collections. Her research likely inspired this poem, which presents meticulous observations of eels symbolizing nature's wonders and mysteries that are beyond human rationality. The poem aptly embodies the poet's fascination and connection with the nature and authenticity of her poetry.

sometimes you see mudfish,

those short lead lengths of eels

that high at low tide

those roping and wagging,

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