“This is water’s world/And the works of men are vanishing”: Hydronymy & anonymity honour water in Alice Oswald’s Dart & Memorial

Abstract

Alice Oswald’s full-length poems Dart (2002) and Memorial (2013) draw attention to the ecology of water in the 21st century by excavating stories and myths around place names, specifically waterways. Hydronyms for the River Dart and the potamoi and naiads of Greco-Roman mythology re-envision history through narrative and its relationship to sites or places. While Dart underscores the human lore around the river by the same name, Memorial rejects human desire for immortality and glory with the remembrance of the Iliad’s dead who return to earth and life cycles with the aid of water. Poetry that focuses on place and history of place names inspires curiosity to rebuild human and non-human relationships.