The Bloodaxe Book of 20th Century Poetry

from Britain & Ireland

Edna Longley

• Publisher: Bloodaxe Books
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN:
  9781852245146
• eBook ISBN:
  9781780375601
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Poetry
• Index: Literature

This epoch-marking anthology presents a map of poetry from Britain and Ireland which readers can follow. You will not get lost here as in other anthologies – with their vast lists of poets summoned up to serve a critic's argument or to illustrate a journalistic overview. Instead, Edna Longley shows you the key poets of the century, and through interlinking commentary points up the connections between them as well as their relationship with the continuing poetic traditions of these islands. Edna Longley draws the poetic line of the century not through culture-defining groups but through the work of the most significant poets of our time. Because her guiding principle is aesthetic precision, the poems themselves answer to their circumstances. Readers will find this book exciting and risk-taking not because her selections are surprising but because of the intensity and critical rigour of her focus, and because the poems themselves are so good. This is a vital anthology because the selection is so pared down. Edna Longley has omitted showy, noisy, ephemeral writers who drown out their contemporaries but leave later or wiser readers unimpressed. Similarly there is no place here for the poet as entertainer, cultural spokesman, feminist mythmaker or political commentator. While anthologies survive, the idea of poetic tradition survives. An anthology as rich as Edna Longley's houses intricate conversations between poets and between poems, between the living and the dead, between the present and the future. It is a book which will enrich the reader's experience and understanding of modern poetry. The anthology covers the work of 70 poets: Thomas Hardy, W.B. Yeats, Edward Thomas, D.H. Lawrence, Siegfried Sassoon, Edwin Muir, T.S. Eliot, Ivor Gurney, Isaac Rosenberg, Hugh MacDiarmid, Wilfred Owen, Charles Hamilton Sorley, Robert Graves, Austin Clarke, Basil Bunting, Stevie Smith, Patrick Kavanagh, Norman Cameron, William Empson, W.H. Auden, Louis MacNeice, John Hewitt, Robert Garioch, Norman MacCaig, R.S. Thomas, Henry Reed, Dylan Thomas, Alun Lewis, W.S. Graham, Keith Douglas, Edwin Morgan, Philip Larkin, Ian Hamilton Finlay, John Montague, Thom Gunn, Ted Hughes, Geoffrey Hill, Sylvia Plath, Fleur Adcock, Tony Harrison, Seamus Heaney, Michael Longley, Derek Mahon, Douglas Dunn, Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin, Paul Durcan, Tom Leonard, Carol Rumens, Selima Hill, Ciaran Carson, James Fenton, Medbh McGuckian, Paul Muldoon, Jo Shapcott, Ian Duhig, Carol Ann Duffy, Kathleen Jamie, Simon Armitage and Don Paterson.

CONTENTS

1. Title Page
2. Preface by edna longley
3. Thomas Hardy (1840-1928)
4. The Darkling Thrush
5. The Self-Unseeing
6. The Convergence of the Twain
7. The Walk
8. After a Journey
9. The Oxen
10. During Wind and Rain
11. In Time of ‘The Breaking of Nations’
12. The Fallow Deer at the Lonely House
13. Shortening Days at the Homestead
14. Christmas: 1924
15. W.B. Yeats (1865-1939)
16. The Fascination of What’s Difficult
17. The Cold Heaven
18. The Wild Swans at Coole
19. Memory
20. Easter 1916
21. The Second Coming
22. Nineteen Hundred and Nineteen
23. Leda and the Swan
24. Byzantium
25. Politics
26. Edward Thomas (1878-1917)
27. Old Man
28. The Combe
29. In Memoriam (Easter 1915)
30. Aspens
31. Rain
32. Thaw
33. Tall Nettles
34. The Watchers ...

Table of contents

• Description
• Title Page
• Contents
• Preface by edna longley
• Thomas Hardy (1840-1928)
• W.B. Yeats (1865-1939)
• Edward Thomas (1878-1917)
• D.H. Lawrence (1885-1930)
• Siegfried Sassoon (1886-1967)
• Edwin Muir (1887-1959)
• T.S. Eliot (1888-1965)
• Ivor Gurney (1890-1937)
• Isaac Rosenberg (1890-1918)
• Hugh MacDiarmid (1892-1978)
• Wilfred Owen (1893-1918
• Charles Hamilton Sorley (1895-1915)
• Robert Graves (1895-1985)
• Austin Clarke (1896-1974)
• Basil Bunting (1900-85)
• Stevie Smith (1902-71)
• Patrick Kavanagh (1904-67)
• Norman Cameron (1905-53)
• William Empson (1906-84)
• W.H. Auden (1907-73)
• Louis MacNeice (1907-63)
• John Hewitt (1907-87)
• Robert Garioch (1909-81)
• Norman MacCaig (1910-96)
• R.S. Thomas (1913-2000)
• Henry Reed (1914-86)
• Dylan Thomas (1914-53)
• Alun Lewis (1915-44)
• W.S. Graham (1918-86)
• Keith Douglas (1920-44)
• Edwin Morgan (1920-2010)
• Philip Larkin (1922-85)
• Ian Hamilton Finlay (1925-2006)
• John Montague (1929-2016)
• Thom Gunn (1929-2004)
• Ted Hughes (1930-98)
• Geoffrey Hill (1932-2016)
• Sylvia Plath (1932-63)
• Fleur Adcock (b. 1934)
• Tony Harrison (b. 1937)
• Seamus Heaney (1939-2013)
• Michael Longley (b. 1939)
• Derek Mahon (b. 1941)
• Douglas Dunn (b. 1942)
• Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin (b. 1942)
• Paul Durcan (b. 1944)
• Tom Leonard (1944-2018)
• Carol Rumens (b. 1944)
• Selima Hill (b. 1945)
• Ciaran Carson (1948-2019)
• James Fenton (b. 1949)
• Medbh McGuckian (b. 1950)
• Paul Muldoon (b. 1951)
• Jo Shapcott (b. 1953)
• Ian Duhig (b. 1954)
• Carol Ann Duffy (b. 1955)
• Kathleen Jamie (b. 1962)
• Simon Armitage (b. 1963)
• Don Paterson (b. 1963)
• Acknowledgements
• Copyright