Fergus Allen's work ranges broadly from sombre reflections on the loneliness and bestiality of human experience, through small fictional psychodramas, to light-hearted fantasy, as in his unexpected poem about Guinness's brewery. Throughout this book, though, can be traced a strongly distinctive sensibility, relishing both natural manifestations of the exotic and its embodiment in the English language, constantly seeking new formal challenges, and delighting in metaphor and music.
Fergus Allen's work ranges broadly from sombre reflections on the loneliness and bestiality of human experience, through small fictional psychodramas, to light-hearted fantasy, as in his unexpected poem about Guinness's brewery. Throughout this book, though, can be traced a strongly distinctive sensibility, relishing both natural manifestations of the exotic and its embodiment in the English language, constantly seeking new formal challenges, and delighting in metaphor and music.