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The word ‘fool’ derives from the Latin follis, one of whose meanings is ‘empty-headed person’. Such mindlessness is not quite imaginable, but perhaps it is possible that by unknowing a thing we can start to see it differently. There’s a lot the fool doesn’t know – otherwise they wouldn’t be a fool – but can anyone be trusted to know anything?
A low-level hum of discordance runs through these poems: between inner and outer worlds, between the sceptical and the wondering mind. Ideas of belief and truth play out in various ways, often through lone figures, fools maybe, thinking aloud, continually distracted by the necessary performance of being.
Already an established and respected name in the world of poetry and drama, Fool is Greta Stoddart’s fourth collection. Her third collection Alive Alive O was published by Bloodaxe in 2015. In 2023, Greta Stoddart won a Cholmondeley Award, a prize which recognises a poet's body of work.
"What is knowable, and how things are known, are themes of the collection. The Fool, a figure whose consciousness it often explores, may see more clearly through a gaze uncluttered by received ideas." – Carol Rumens, The Guardian, Poem of the Week
‘Greta Stoddart’s fourth collection Fool looks at ways in which, left to ourselves, we look for truth and meaning, how we inhabit various states of being and how it is we can know so much and so little at the same time.’ – Carol Rumens, The Poetry Review
"Stoddart ranges dazzlingly across the nature of time, reality, happiness and self in what feels like an understandably feverish, obsessive anxiety... Among current major UK poets, Stoddart’s poetic voice is perhaps as hard to categorise as anyone’s, except in its excellence. Even more than its wondrous three precursors, Fool will demand re-readings to absorb its full richness." – Matthew Paul, The Friday Poem
"Reading and re-reading the spare, prosaic poems in this absorbing collection has been something of a quiet revelation." – Jill Sharp, The High Window
'Greta Stoddart’s poems combine exceptional poise and presence with impressive reach. Capturing the flow of life they are distinguished by their depth of thought, alertness and sense of the paradoxical… A recent collection Fool (2022) further demonstrates Greta Stoddart's ability to stretch what poetry can achieve. It confirms her as one of our most accomplished and ambitious poets.' - Moniza Alvi, Judge for the 2023 Cholmondeley Awards
"You know, I love Greta Stoddart. She’s so interesting. And the poems, like I say, they look so clinical and clean. It’s like she’s stripped away all the trimmings. And we go in there and it’s cold, but it’s fascinating. Do read, if you can, any poems from Fool by Greta Stoddart.’ – Frank Skinner, Frank Skinner’s Poetry Podcast: Greta Stoddart, Wednesday 20 August 2025