Strong Words: modern poets on modern poetry

by W.N. Herbert, Matthew Hollis (Editor)

Poetry has never been so rigorous and diverse, nor has its audience been so numerous and engaged. Strong words? Not if the poets are right. As Ezra Pound wrote: 'You would think anyone wanting to know about poetry would go to someone who knew something about it.' That's exactly what Bloodaxe has done with this judicious and comprehensive selection of British, Irish and American manifestos by some of modern poetry's finest practitioners. Opening the 20th century account with Ezra Pound, W.B. Yeats and T.S. Eliot, the book moves through key later figures including W.H. Auden, Ted Hughes, Stevie Smith and Dylan Thomas. America is richly represented too, from Robert Frost and William Carlos Williams to the influential New England poets Robert Lowell, Elizabeth Bishop and Sylvia Plath. Strong Words then brings the issues fully up to date with over 30 specially commissioned statements from contemporary writers including Seamus Heaney, Andrew Motion, Simon Armitage, Selima Hill, Paul Muldoon and Douglas Dunn, amounting to a new overview of the poetry being written at the start of the 21st century. For poets and readers, for critics, teachers and students of creative writing and contemporary poetry, this is essential reading. As well as representing many of the most important poets of the last hundred years, Strong Words also charts many different stances and movements, from Modernism to Postmodernism, from Futurism to the future theories of poetry. This landmark book champions the continuing dialogue of these voices, past and present, exploring the strongest form that words can take: the poem.

Genres: Poetry, Writing, Nonfiction

320 pages, Paperback

First published March 26, 2001

About the author

W.N. Herbert FRSL (b. 1961) is a Scottish poet. He writes in both English and Scots. He and Richard Price founded the poetry magazine Gairfish. He currently teaches at Newcastle University.

Herbert was educated at Grove Academy and then studied Brasenose College, Oxford, becoming a Doctor of Philosophy in 1992 after completing a thesis on the work of Hugh MacDiarmid.

In 1994, he was Writer-in-Residence for Morayshire and one of 20 poets chosen by a panel of judges as the New Generation in a promotion organised by the Poetry Society. He was one of the writers involved in the Informationist poetry movement that emerged in Scotland in the 1990s.

In September 2013, Herbert was appointed as Dundee's first makar.

Reviews

[Kirsty Grant · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book of short essays from poets writing about the art of poetry. Look out for Kathleen Jamie's essay on truth, very insightful. Some of the book was like a massive tongue twister whilst others where thought provoking. Worth a read if you want an insiders view.

[Matthew Walker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sensational.

[Cooch · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Useful Book

This book is an interesting and informative aid to the general reader, important to the reader of poetry and probably indispensable to the writer of poetry.

[Fiona · Rating 3 out of 5]

Useful perspectives on poetry

[Emily Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

I would recommend this as a useful reference tool to anyone seriously studying poetry.

[Charlie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty much all you need to know

[Julia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great collection of thoughts on poetry from poets - a nice first introduction to essays on writing.

[Charlotte · Rating 5 out of 5]

A touchstone book for me: gold mine etc etc. Poets on poetry. In their own (strong) words. What could be better?