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TS Eliot's fountain pen gets first outing at Royal Society of Literature
Pen presented by poet's widow will be used by society fellows – replacing quill used by Charles DickensOnly the tiny letters TSE engraved on the gold band give away the distinguished pedigree of the...
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Lucretius, part 9: the calculating poet | Emma Woolerton
Why did Lucretius choose to write in poetry? The answer lies in his evangelism for both Epicureanism and his own legacyEpicurus didn't like poetry. He thought it was unclear in comparison to prose, and...
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Nottingham travel tips: Southwell, good for Lord Byron bad for Charles I
Southwell Minster commands the view in this Nottinghamshire town but it also features a rich artistic and historical heritageAs you descend the hill and approach Southwell, nestling in the Trent...
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Chain Ghazal: Chickens by Esther Greenleaf Mürer
Using repetition to splice two genres – the oriental ghazal and the blues – this humorous offering demonstrates the poet's joy in language and formThere's always a wealth of interesting new writing in...
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Oysterity, a poem for the budget by Sean O'Brien
As an appetiser for Wednesday's budget announcement, we publish a new poem about consumption and regret by the Forward prize-winning poetBlah about "society"And what we should give back –The matter...
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Entries open for Foyle young poets of the year award
Young poets aged 11-17 from all over the world are invited to enter this year's competition with a poem on any themeAttracting over 7,000 entries from all over world, the Foyle young poets of the year...
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Dear Boy by Emily Berry – review
This is a debut of sinful inventiveness and heartrending truth in which everyday life is surreally reimagined, writes Ben WilkinsonIf one of the most liberating moments in a writer's life comes with...
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From the Observer archive, 25 March 1979: Stephen Spender on the art of...
The poet and novelist considers the awe he inspires in others – for having met the likes of Eliot, Woolf and SassoonIf in company, I mention the name of a famous friend or acquaintance, dead or living,...
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DH Lawrence's poetry 'ruined by censorship'
New edition of author's work reveals him as a talented war poet who attacked British imperialismDH Lawrence was an infamous victim of the censor as his sexually explicit novel Lady Chatterley's Lover...
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Hill of Doors by Robin Robertson – review
Autobiography and myth are the themes of this collection, which contains poems as satisfying as novelsRobin Robertson's fifth collection has been artfully organised. He has shown in earlier work (for...
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Poem of the week: Bird on a Briar by Anonymous
Whether sacred, profane – or both – the mystery of this poem remains immediately appealing some 700 years onThis week's poem is among the earliest surviving English love lyrics. "Bird on a Briar" or,...
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Kate Tempest wins Ted Hughes poetry prize for 'spoken story'
Young poet was recognised for Brand New Ancients, which reincarnates the gods of old in members of two London familiesKate Tempest – one of the few well-known poets to have performed at Glastonbury and...
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First world war poem wins National Poetry Competition 2013
Patricia McCarthy wins £5,000 prize and comparisons with Wilfred Own and Siegfried SassoonClick here to read the winning poemA poem inspired by her late mother's stories of the first world war, which...
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National Poetry Competition 2013: The winning poem
Read the unexpected picture of the first world war painted by the winner of this year's £5,000 prizeClothes that escaped the Great War by Patricia McCarthyNot the familiar ghosts: the shaggy dog of...
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50 Shades of Pam Ayres pastiche. Join the BDSM fun
Her take on EL James isn't really hers, alas. But different poets taking command of Christian and Ana sounds like fun. Who wants to play?So the "Pam Ayres" Fifty Shades of Grey poem isn't by Pam Ayres...
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Nick Laird: It is necessary to spell your poetry correctly
No pictures, frost or footnotes in your submissions please, begs National Poetry Competition judge Nick LairdI spent a few weeks recently reading through 10,000 of the 13,000 entries for the National...
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Simon Armitage: a poetic pilgrimage around Devon and Cornwall
He did it two years ago, walking the Pennine Way, but will the poet be as successful when he travels around the south-west of England this summer, with nothing but poetry for tender?After walking the...
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Spring: where has it gone?
This long and bitter winter has tested the resilience of life all across the land, from lambing ewes to hatching birds and buds. But what of its toll on us?A hall of fame for creatures able to...
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Paul Muldoon: a life in poetry
I'm interested in what can be done with words, but I like to jazz things up a bitCollecting lyrics from the more literary end of pop songwriting into a book is nothing new. In recent years Leonard...
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Poem of the week: When that I was and a little tiny boy by William Shakespeare
For 1 April, a sonorous refrain from one of literature's most plaintive fools, making plain the shadows behind the japesIt's not often that April Fool's Day and "Poem of the week Monday" coincide. So...
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