The Multiverse

The Multiverse sings of science, philosophy, and religion, testing the emotional valences of each. It sings in a variety of strictly observed metres and with rhyme, and the poems subtly find their way into memory not only as sense but also as sound. As for sense, they explore the mind’s checks and balances, lightenings and darkenings, promises and compromises, celebrating human curiosity for all its discoveries and delights. The poet is an enthusiast – for the visible world, for scientific and philosophical excursions. Speculations about the present and the future open doors to further wonder. Sensing that there are worlds beyond what we know, the poet finds fresh words for why we should be hopeful and careful about this life, why ‘pattern’ should be a ‘passion’, why effort to make and to unravel must continue. With its unusual variety of intricate stanzas, the poet seeks to bring word-music to bear on the enquiring mind. A wide, deep, and coherent array of musical thought becomes available for the reader. The kinds of stanzas it deploys, the poet says, ‘have been underused in English since the seventeenth century (with some notable exceptions)’. His own exception is refreshingly notable and inspiriting.

Andrew Wynn Owen is a Fellow by Examination at All Souls College, Oxford. He received the university’s Newdigate Prize in 2014 and an Eric Gregory Award from the Society of Authors in 2015. With the Emma Press he has published pamphlets including narrative poems, lyrics and a collaboration (with John Fuller).