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The Bloodaxe Book of 20th Century Poetry

Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Bloodaxe Books Ltd
ISBN: 185224514X
ISBN-13: 9781852245146
Released: 09 Oct 2000
RRP: £10.95
Average Rating:

Customer Reviews

Poetry anthology review - By: , 26 Jun 2001
Every anthology, Edna Longley writes in her introduction to the Bloodaxe Book of 20th century poetry, 'draws artificial circles around its contents'. To anthologise is to make an argument: Longley herself argues, rather more self-aware in this respect than some other anthologists, that anthologising is a form of criticism. That rule applies whether the anthologist adopts the expansive & inclusive mode (at least one poem by X for political or other reasons) or adopts some other criteria ('new poetry', 'poetry of the 1930s' etc) to draw their own circle. In this anthology, Longley's criteria are aesthetic ones within what she acknowledges to be the artificallly drawn circle of 'the century'. Of course, that too implicates the book in critical debates. The blurb itself makes a bold, unequivocal & controversial argument about the book's selection, & about the ways in which it is (implicitly & explicitly) responding to the plethora of anthologies that appeared at the turn of the century, most of which are memorable for their door-stopping rather than imaginatively arresting qualities.

This anthology celebrates the concentrated lyric poem, the resourcefulness of traditional forms, & poetry's capacity to adopt & adapt influences in a changing (and through the twentieth century, traumatic) world. These are poets in conversation with each other, and, inevitably, with a world outside the confines of this - or any - anthology. Their concern is with, in Derek Mahon's phrase, 'keeping the colours new'. This is a superb collection, registering the shock-waves of the century, & validating the resourcefulness of art in a period of almost continual crisis. Yeats & Hardy tower over the century; contemporary poets such as Simon Armitage, Ian Duhig & Selima Hill negotiate with their more famous predecessors. Often neglected poets such as Ivor Gurney are given their due; others, though well-known, such as Bunting & Empson, are rediscovered in a different way, since the process of reading the anthology sparks off previously unnoticed connections & developments. Inevitably, readers may well encounter disappointments because their own favourite names are omitted; but they are extremely unlikely to be disappointed by anything they do actuallly encounter in the anthology. That's rare enough.

The Terrible Shears - By: , 15 Mar 2001
No one could pretend that the editing of Poetry Anthologies is an easy task - but most people, I imaging, feel grateful that people make the attempt. My earliest forays into poetry came via two anthologies - Penguin's 'Poetry of the Thirties', & a battered, second hand edition of A. Alveraz's 'New Poetry', & as an unread greenhorn these books opened up whole new territories for me, for which I'm eternallly grateful.

I've been reading poetry, now, for nearly 10 years, & have reached that stage when I'm starting to have my own ideas about which poets are significant to me, & why - so that each time I pick up an anthology I'm ready to agree & argue about choices & omissions - that thorniest, & often, I have to admit, potentiallly arid, of areas. I suppose any editor is taking on the role of a kind of custodian; raking through past & present & looking for the kind of things they'd like to see flourishing; selecting a version of history & shaping a potential future. Edna Longley's anthology of '20th Century Poetry' has the following blurb on its back cover: '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, & through interlinking commentary points up the connections between them as well as their relationship with the continuing poetic traditions of these islands...' Well, I suppose this is meant to be reassuring, but I confess it is where I start to feel edgy. How for instance, is one meant to engage in the process of deciding who the 'key poets' are without a 'critic's argument'. Beats me.

The blurb goes on: '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...' All this, to me, is staring to take on the familiar sound of a 'critic's argument', & a very conservative one at that. So what are the consequences of this argument, which is so much more than just an argument? Yes, this pared down selection has meant many omissions. Lovers of 20th century modernism might be unhappy at the exclusion of David Jones & J. H. Prynne, to name but two amongst a now populated tradition. There's no room, either, for A.E. Houseman. But the stickiest area of this anthology - not unsurprisingly - seems to be its choices from the post war period, & especiallly from the last 20 or 30 years - a choice which makes Andrew Motion's & Blake Morison's 'New Poetry' from the 1980s look almost radical. There's no room for Peter Redgrove, Peter Porter, Ken Smith, Elizabeth Jennings, Anne Stevenson, Peter Reading, Sean O'Brien, for instance - alll of whom have been criticallly acclaimed & highly influential. But that's just to name a few. So what about the inclusions? Well, we're in safer hands here - as most of the poems included in the anthology are in fact very strong, & would make wonderful reading for anyone just starting out. But why so much Simon Armitage? And why no Hughes from either 'Crow' or 'Birthday Letters'? Why is there more of Ms Longley's husband, Michael, than there is, for instance, of the work of Tony Harrison? We have a version of 20th Century Poetry which excludes 'V' or any of Harrison's Gulf War poems.

Ms Longley does stake out her claims quite clearly, though, in her introduction - forwarding a case that favors the concentration of the lyric poem, & good old fashioned virtues of craft & tradition, alll of which is well said & fair enough. Overalll her commentaries are very helpful & intelligent, & it's good to see an editor taking the poems of D H Lawrence, for example, so seriously, & writing so well about them. Equallly, her short introductions to each poet are generously sprinkled with the comments of writers about their peers & predecessors. It's good, for example, to read Thom Gunn's comments on Yeats & Eliot, as well as Simon Armitage on Ted Hughes. These smalll touches make the anthology so much richer.

So alll in alll, a safe option for the beginner. But don't be fooled by the blurb. Every choice & omission in this anthology articulates an implicit argument on the behalf of its editor. For a more lively & radical selection I'd suggest Bloodaxe's other main anthology, 'Poetry with an Edge', which is entirely partisan, but curiously various, as well as, for the more 'experimentallly' inclined, Picador's 'Conductors of Chaos' (if its still in print!). This selection is very conservative - & like many conservative arguments it tries to put forward its case as somehow beyond argument or negotiation itself. But as we alll know, selections & omissions don't just happen! People with tastes & arguments make them.