Kierkegaard’s Cupboard

Poet Marianne Burton, whose first collection was nominated for the Forward Prize, has written a beautifully thoughtful, sharp and lively new book of poems inspired by the life of the noted Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard. The ‘cupboard’ of the title refers to a wooden cabinet that Kierkegaard had made in order to store his letters and reminiscences of his beloved Regine, who he met and fell in love with when she was a young woman. He declined to marry her, but she nevertheless occupied his thoughts and dreams throughout his life. Dedicated to a life of the mind, he produced numerous books outlining his ideas of freedom, the religious life, man’s moral duties, as well as novels and essays. Burton brilliantly captures the voice of Kierkegaard, his intellectual wit, his pointed ways with paradox, his depth of feeling and his compassionate, lively and sociable personality in this series of 14 line-poems.