# The Asylum Dance

Canonical: https://www.bookquiver.com/john-burnside/the-asylum-dance

![The Asylum Dance](https://quivercdn.com/covers/jonathan-cape/john-burnside/the-asylum-dance_978-02-2409-005-6.jpg?v=2026-04-24%2010%3A03%3A37)

- Authors: [John Burnside](https://www.bookquiver.com/john-burnside)
- Language: en_GB
- Published: 2009-09-03

## Description

Lucid, tender, and strangely troubling, the poems in The Asylum Dance - which won the Whitbread Prize for Poetry - are hymns to the tension between the sanctuary of home and the lure of escape. This is territory that Burnside has made his own: a domestic world threaded through with myth and longing, beyond which lies a no man's land - the 'somewhere in between' - of dusk or dawn, of mists or sudden light, where the epiphanies are. Using the framework of four long poems, 'Ports', 'Settlements', 'Fields' and 'Roads', the poet balances presence with absence; we are shown the homing instinct - felt in the blood and marrow - as a pull to refuge, simplicity, and a safe haven, while at the same time hearing the siren call from the world beyond: the thrilling expectancy of fairground or dancehall, the possibilities of the open road. With a confident open line and complete command of the language, John Burnside writes with grace, agility and profound philosophical purpose, confirming his position in the front rank of contemporary poetry.

## Editions

### The Asylum Dance

- Publisher: jonathan_cape
- ISBN: 978-02-2409-005-6
- Pages: 96
- Published: 2009-09-03
- Language: en_GB