# Nine Lessons From The Dark

Canonical: https://www.bookquiver.com/adam-thorpe/nine-lessons-from-the-dark/9780224063852

![Nine Lessons From The Dark](https://quivercdn.com/covers/jonathan-cape/adam-thorpe/nine-lessons-from-the-dark_978-02-2406-385-2.jpg?v=2026-04-24%2009%3A32%3A07)

- Book: [Nine Lessons From The Dark](https://www.bookquiver.com/adam-thorpe/nine-lessons-from-the-dark) ([Nine Lessons From The Dark.md](https://www.bookquiver.com/adam-thorpe/nine-lessons-from-the-dark.md))
- Authors: [Adam Thorpe](https://www.bookquiver.com/adam-thorpe)
- Publisher: jonathan_cape
- ISBN: 978-02-2406-385-2
- Pages: 96
- Published: 2003-11-20
- Language: en_GB
- Binding: Softcover

## Description

Adam Thorpe's fourth collection continues his engagement with history: the living continuum that connects us with our near and distant past, nourishing and illuminating our present. Here are traces left of presence: Indian scratchings on rock, the nail-marks of destroyed frescoes, spoken fragments of war memories - petroglyphs that function as both memorials and re-awakenings, traceable with the finger of the imagination. And here, too, are images of the stilled, the stopped life: a snowed-up village, the paralysed victim of motor-neurone disease, a soft drink fermented in an old village cafe. From this rueful equilibrium of mid-life, Thorpe circles his own personal history, allowing regret and anticipation their Janus-like say. These are erudite, generous poems, formally versatile yet rich in startlingly original observation and a natural lyric grace. Performing his unique archaeology on lives lived, Adam Thorpe once again displays the range of his imagination and the depth of his humanity.