The submerged land of Lyonesse was once part of Cornwall, according to myth, standing for a lost paradise in Arthurian legend, but becomes an emblem of human frailty in the face of climate change in Penelope Shuttle's new poems. The second part of the book, New Lamps for Old, is a collection of poems searching for meaning in life after bereavement.
. The submerged land of Lyonesse was once part of Cornwall, according to myth, standing for a lost paradise in Arthurian legend, but becomes an emblem of human frailty in the face of climate change in Penelope Shuttle's new poems. . In her preface to this book, Penelope Shuttle writes: "Lyonesse is a place of paradox, both real and historical as well as an imaginary region for exploring depths. It holds grief for many kinds of loss... The poems seek re-wilding of a city where human loss interconnects with mythic loss; myth is rooted in the real." . This book is two collections in one: the second part, New Lamps for Old, is a collection of poems she needed to write in coming up for air from the watery depths of Lyonesse, to find meaning in life after losing her husband, the poet Peter Redgrove.
