Collected Poems by Ruth Dallas
To Ruth Dallas, words are as much a part of the natural world as are beech trees, seashells and mountains. It is no accident, therefore, that much of her work should be rooted in the New Zealand landscape, reflecting its rhythms, seasons, its benevolence and its harshness, and its effect on men and women.
Curved Horizon: An Autobiography
At a time when Brasch, Fairburn, Glover and other spoke bitterly of the lack of support given to New Zealand artists, how did a single woman from Southland live and work as a writer, establishing herself as a poet and author of international regard. In Curved Horizon Dallas recounts her remarkable life with the insight and assurance we expect from this most accomplished poet.
The Black Horse and Other Stories
Twelve short stories by one of New Zealand's best-loved poets. Set in the south, they are spare pieces of prose, showing an eye for detail and for the ironies of life.
The Joy of a Ming Vase
As American critic Tom Disch quipped of many vintage poets: 'friends and pets die, the garden takes on a new significance.' There are poems in this collection about Dutch Masters, the remembered voice of a deceased soprano, a waterfall, ancient Chinese artefacts, victims of the World Wars, kites and flowers; but each piece is sensitively imbued not only with the poet's awareness of impending death but also with the incorrigible fragility of life. While Dallas is at home in a number of different modes, her high regard for literary tradition as a form of spiritual realism makes her eminently readable as a disciplined watcher of the seasons.