Sarah Howe & Sandeep Parmar: Foretokens

Four Tokens is Sarah Howe's second poetry collection, following her prize-winning debut. The book explores intergenerational inheritance, language loss, genetics, and prophecy through inventive formal devices including bibliomancy, genetics-based poems, and specular forms. Howe blends lyric intimacy with larger historical and epic concerns, probing race, motherhood, and the ethics of representation. The collection interweaves personal narratives with scholarly and archival interests, using objects and tokens as motifs of recognition and revelation. It has been praised for its emotional range, formal daring, and celebration of what poetry can do.

Defence of Poesy (also titled An Apology for Poetry) is Philip Sidney's seminal 16th-century essay defending the imaginative and ethical functions of poetry. Written in the Elizabethan period, it argues for poetry's capacity to teach and delight, and to present moral truths through imaginative exempla. The essay became a cornerstone of Renaissance literary criticism and shaped debates about poetic value and purpose. Sidney critiques rival disciplines and asserts poetry's unique ability to synthesize knowledge and virtue. The work remains a key text in studies of poetics and literary theory.

The novel is a vivid recreation of an illustrious family at its height and its subsequent downfall. It explores the lives of over 400 characters, including Jia Baoyu, Lin Daiyu, and Xue Baochai, and delves into themes such as romantic love, the transitoriness of earthly material values, and the critique of feudalism. The novel is known for its detailed descriptions of Chinese material culture, including medicine, cuisine, tea culture, and various artistic and philosophical aspects. The first 80 chapters were written by Cao Xueqin, while the last 40 chapters were added by Gao E and Cheng Weiyuan.

Sarah Howe's 'Loop of Jade' is a celebrated debut poetry collection that explores themes of identity, migration, and family across Chinese and English cultural contexts. The book interlaces personal narrative with historical and cultural inquiry, engaging with memory, language, and the legacies of displacement. It garnered critical acclaim and awards for its formal inventiveness and emotional depth. Howe's lyric voice and archival interest in the collection established the concerns she returns to in her later work. 'Loop of Jade' functions as both intimate family investigation and broader meditation on belonging in the modern world.