The Vision Splendid has poems about feelings, places, creatures and people, particularly London and Londoners, as well as a vision – mocked by powerful forces today – of a fair and kind society, mythically represented by London, remaining herself while becoming the shining city of Revelation and Blake’s Jerusalem. Towards the end of the book three longer pieces express aspects of this in different forms: ‘Epic’ in alliterative verse, ‘No Mean City’ as a documentary poem and ‘Common’ in a sequence alternating sonnets with short lyrics in common measure.

'One of the most remarkable things in this fine, ambitious collection is Livingstone's ability to locate both the here and now and the visionary in a single arc of movement.' -- Glyn Pursglove in Acumen click for complete review

'Her new book is a celebration of London and Londoners, from its radical past to the multicultural present... The climax of the book is in two long utopian celebrations of London' s contribution to the Good Old Cause, 'No Mean City' and the extraordinary 'Epic'. -- Andy Croft in the Morning Star

'Dinah wears her learning lightly and makes connections between the ancient world and today with wit and simplicity... Dinah is a London Crier, ringing her bell of warning, ringing her bell of exultation... Kindness, work, love, these are the things that matter to her, matter to us all.'-- Jehane Markham in Camden New Journal

'Her eye is exact and her ear faultless... Livingstone's language is so conversational that one might just not notice her formal skill. [In 'Common'] each sonnet has a volta from the ninth line onwards, and the alternating poems stick strictly to a pattern of four stresses followed by a three stress line. Livingstone's plain surfaces are deceptive, concealing a lifetime of craftsmanship and a longing for the City on the Hill:
this metaphor, utopia, state of grace
urges change required, the transformation
of unjust structures all that they deface. -- James Sutherland-Smith in The Bow-wow Shop

'One of the many functions of poetry is to remind us of how human we are, of how hungry we are for experience and of how thirsty we are for transcendence. Insofar as poetry is art, its principal function is to give delight. On all of the above this modest book of poems scores highly. ' -- Frank Regan in Renew

'This honest and heartfelt collection' -- Thomas Ovans in London Grip

'She is a long-schooled lyric poet with a faultless ear for the sound of English -- also honed, perhaps by her knowledge of other languages and her work as a translator... As well as communicating some splendid visions, Livingstone is well worth studying for her vigour and economy, the sense of natural outburst she imparts to serious poems, the wide span of impressions and ideas (some political) in a single poem.' -- Dilys Wood in Artemis

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Dinah Livingstone Poetry:
Embodiment |
Poems of Hampstead Heath and Regent's Park |
Kindness|
Presence |
Mayday |
Second Sight |
Keeping Heart |
Essays:
The Making of Humanity |
Poetic Tales |
The Poetry of Earth |