The bard celebrates two other fine practitioners of the art, and laments a lost brewer
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Steve Ely on his World War I commission from the Poetry Society
STEVE ELY explains how a commission from the Poetry Society took him on a remarkable journey of momentous discovery and complex inspiration
This right-wing conspiracy theory is used to justify the coercive measures against gender, race and labour rights that best serve capitalism, attests GAVIN O’TOOLE
KENNY MONROSE recommends a new exhibition that highlights the significance of Black British music
ANGUS REID is bowled over by an exuberant film about the making of Keith Jarrett’s legendary concert
MARIA DUARTE, FIONA O’CONNOR and ANDY HEDGECOCK review Savage House, Enzo, Madfabulous, and Erupcja
CHRIS SEARLE recommends a work of love and deep admiration for a great musician
The hold of WWI on the world we live in today
Being invited to write a poetic response to World War I by the Poetry Society to mark its centenary is a risky and potentially daunting commission.
The temptation is to write what would inevitably be a generic anti-war piece — an empathetic and angry mourning, or a retrospective protest against the slaughter. But what is there to be said in that vein that hasn’t already been said so eloquently and movingly by those poets infinitely more qualified to speak out about “the pity of war” — Owen, Rosenberg, Read, Trakl, Blok, Apollinaire, et al?
Similar stories
RUTH AYLETT recommends that this mixture of memoir, diary and poetry by a young Gazan writer be read as widely as possible
JULIA TOPPIN recommends Patti Smith’s eloquent memoir that wrestles with the beauty and sorrow of a lifetime
TONY FOX invites readers to come and hear the story of the remarkable Liverpudlian International Brigader Alexander Foote
by Widad Nabi