Poetry of the First World War: an Anthology edited by Tim Kendall...
The inclusion of less familiar poets and songs from the trenches and music halls makes this such a valuable collectionI confess to a certain glazing-over of the eyes when encountering the words "first...
View ArticleDesmond O'Grady a great citizen of world poetry
The Irish poet, who died on Monday, adventured across many literary cultures, and he brought back some rare discoveriesThere is a scene in Fellini's La Dolce Vita, the fourth night episode, in which a...
View ArticlePaco Peña review an intimate and fiery flamenco tribute to Lorca
Playhouse, EdinburghSpanish guitar virtuoso Peña leads a band of musicians and dancers in a dazzling show honouring the murdered writerClap hands for Paco Peña's flamenco dancers in picturesFederico...
View ArticleWinifred Dawson obituary
Winifred Dawson, who has died unexpectedly aged 85, after a stroke, was much loved and will always be remembered for one early relationship. As a young woman in Belfast in the 1950s, Winifred inspired...
View ArticleSimin Behbahani obituary
Iran's most famous female poet and defender of human rightsSimin Behbahani, who has died aged 87, was Iran's most famous female poet, credited with reinventing the ghazal, the lyrical sonnet associated...
View ArticleHow we made The War Poetry of Wilfred Owen app for iPad | App story
The one-man team behind the first world war app on bringing Owens words to life and the decision to use female narratorsThe concept for an app based on the war poetry of Wilfred Owen came as the result...
View ArticleHorace and Me: Life Lessons from an Ancient Poet by Harry Eyres review
Drawn to Horace by a mutual love of wine and poetry, Eyres celebrates the importance of poetry in an age that, like Horace's own, values money above all elseAs a schoolboy at Eton, Harry Eyres didn't...
View ArticleTed Hughes's poetry: wild at heart
Alice Oswald on compiling a bestiary of Ted Hughes's animal poemsTed Hughes wrote, in Poetry in the Making, that he thought of his poems as animals, meaning that he wanted them to have "a vivid life of...
View ArticleMy hero: Robert Burns by Alex Salmond
Scotland's first minister pays tribute to the national bardRobert Burns is a cultural and literary icon, whose poetry transcends culture, creed and era. Whether in traditional publications or online,...
View ArticleThe Saturday Poem: Mammy Dozes
by Colette BryceMammy dozes in her chair.Cushions packed in soft layersare glowing with her heat.Eighty years have lent her skina bruised look in composure,a touch of purplesto the hollows, so Mammy...
View ArticlePhilip Larkin: Life, Art and Love review James Booth's life of the poet is...
Except when dealing with the poetry itself, James Booth's biography of Philip Larkin reaches some muddled conclusionsAs treasurer of the Oxford English Club, the young Philip Larkin met several famous...
View ArticleBlack Country review Liz Berry's impressive first collection of poems
Combining the grace of a bird in flight with sparing use of West Midlands dialect, Liz Berry's poems show warmth and maturityBlack Country is an extraordinary debut and rooted in place. When you close...
View ArticleWhen I read Rimbauds verse I heard the call at the bottom of the sea | George...
I had already decided to be a poet, but this was a revolutionary understanding of what that meant at the most visceral levelDu mußt dein Leben ändern. You must change your life, says Rainer Maria...
View ArticlePoem of the week: An Autumn Sunset by Edith Wharton
Best known for her fiction, the novelist was also an occasionally glorious poet, as this reflection on a fiery sky showsThere's a faint Keatsian flavour to this week's poem, An Autumn Sunset, by the...
View ArticleWorth a thousand words: reader art inspired by poetry in pictures
From politics to matters of the heart via a deserted dining room, here are the best of your works inspired by favourite poems. Versifying stuffContinue reading...
View ArticleIl Giovane Favoloso review a sweeping, swooning Leopardi biopic
This handsome biopic of the celebrated Italian poet Giacomo Leopardi may not be the most radical film on show at Venice, but still has much to recommend itAhead of the Venice screening of Il Giovane...
View ArticleMr Auden's anthology - review of Poets of the English Language:From the...
A review of the monumental five-volume Poets of the English Language, edited by WH Auden and Norman Holmes PearsonAn anthology should be regarded as a public treasure. And on the whole that is what...
View ArticleFor me, Meeting the British blew away the very idea of certainty | Giles Foden
Paul Muldoons 1987 collection was a profound influence on me as a writer, not least in how it shows how fixed ideas are subject to slippageIn 1986, fresh from Africa, I arrived at university with a...
View ArticleWelcome to Norwich Englands first city of literature
Get past Alan Partridge and the Normal for Norfolk jokes and you will see that this East Anglian city has creativity in its veinsWhat makes a city a literary giant? According to Unesco, it takes a rare...
View ArticleOh great and gentle muse, inspire Beyoncé with the genius of poetry
What is it with celebrities and verse? Weve had lines from Charlie Sheen and Pamela Anderson, but now they must bow before the singers perfect stanzas (except Bey of Light was written for her)The ice...
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