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Selected Poems, 1976-1997
Dramatic monologues, elegies, poems of social and political observations, love lyrics -- all are part of Andrew Motion's repertoire. His concern for the extremes of human experience and the artistic integrity that insists on his addressing the reader with a maximum clarity and impact are consistent features of a career otherwise remarkable for its imaginative range and technical versatility.Andrew Motion's position as a poet in the great English narrative tradition, and his distinctive contribution to it, have long been recognized. His uncanny ability to enter into the lives and minds of imaginary characters at moments of physical and emotional danger are here on display in a collection that confirms him as one of the most important poets at work today.
- GenresPoetry
151 pages, Paperback
First published November 25, 2010
4 people are currently reading
82 people want to read
About the author
Andrew Motion
114 books64 followersSir Andrew Motion, FRSL is an English poet, novelist and biographer, who presided as Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom from 1999 to 2009.
Motion was appointed Poet Laureate on 1 May 1999, following the death of Ted Hughes, the previous incumbent. The Nobel Prize-winning Northern Irish poet and translator Seamus Heaney had ruled himself out for the post. Breaking with the tradition of the laureate retaining the post for life, Motion stipulated that he would stay for only ten years. The yearly stipend of £200 was increased to £5,000 and he received the customary butt of sack.
He wanted to write "poems about things in the news, and commissions from people or organisations involved with ordinary life," rather than be seen a 'courtier'. So, he wrote "for the TUC about liberty, about homelessness for the Salvation Army, about bullying for ChildLine, about the foot and mouth outbreak for the Today programme, about the Paddington rail disaster, the 11 September attacks and Harry Patch for the BBC, and more recently about shell shock for the charity Combat Stress, and climate change for the song cycle I've finished for Cambridge University with Peter Maxwell Davies." In 2003, Motion wrote Regime change, a poem in protest at Invasion of Iraq from the point of view of Death walking the streets during the conflict, and in 2005, Spring Wedding in honour of the wedding of the Prince of Wales to Camilla Parker Bowles. Commissioned to write in the honour of 109 year old Harry Patch, the last surviving 'Tommy' to have fought in World War I, Motion composed a five part poem, read and received by Patch at the Bishop's Palace in Wells in 2008. As laureate, he also founded the Poetry Archive an on-line library of historic and contemporary recordings of poets reciting their own work.
Motion remarked that he found some of the duties attendant to the post of poet laureate difficult and onerous and that the appointment had been "very, very damaging to [his] work". The appointment of Motion met with criticism from some quarters. As he prepared to stand down from the job, Motion published an article in The Guardian which concluded, "To have had 10 years working as laureate has been remarkable. Sometimes it's been remarkably difficult, the laureate has to take a lot of flak, one way or another. More often it has been remarkably fulfilling. I'm glad I did it, and I'm glad I'm giving it up – especially since I mean to continue working for poetry." Motion spent his last day as Poet Laureate holding a creative writing class at his alma mater, Radley College, before giving a poetry reading and thanking Peter Way, the man who taught him English at Radley, for making him who he was. Carol Ann Duffy succeeded him as Poet Laureate on 1 May 2009.
Andrew Motion nació en 1952. Estudió en el University College de Oxford y empezó su carrera enseñando inglés en la Universidad de Hull. También ha sido director de Poetry Review, director editorial de Chatto & Windus, y Poeta Laureado; asimismo, fue cofundador del Poetry Archive, y en 2009 se le concedió el título de Sir por su obra literaria. En la actualidad es profesor de escritura creativa en el Royal Holloway, de la Universidad de Londres. Es miembro de la Royal Society of Literature y vive en Londres. Con un elenco de nobles marineros y crueles piratas, y llena de historias de amor y de valentía, Regreso a la isla del tesoro es una trepidante continuación de La isla del tesoro, escrita con extraordinaria autenticidad y fuerza imaginativa por uno de los grandes escritores ingleses actuales.
Motion was appointed Poet Laureate on 1 May 1999, following the death of Ted Hughes, the previous incumbent. The Nobel Prize-winning Northern Irish poet and translator Seamus Heaney had ruled himself out for the post. Breaking with the tradition of the laureate retaining the post for life, Motion stipulated that he would stay for only ten years. The yearly stipend of £200 was increased to £5,000 and he received the customary butt of sack.
He wanted to write "poems about things in the news, and commissions from people or organisations involved with ordinary life," rather than be seen a 'courtier'. So, he wrote "for the TUC about liberty, about homelessness for the Salvation Army, about bullying for ChildLine, about the foot and mouth outbreak for the Today programme, about the Paddington rail disaster, the 11 September attacks and Harry Patch for the BBC, and more recently about shell shock for the charity Combat Stress, and climate change for the song cycle I've finished for Cambridge University with Peter Maxwell Davies." In 2003, Motion wrote Regime change, a poem in protest at Invasion of Iraq from the point of view of Death walking the streets during the conflict, and in 2005, Spring Wedding in honour of the wedding of the Prince of Wales to Camilla Parker Bowles. Commissioned to write in the honour of 109 year old Harry Patch, the last surviving 'Tommy' to have fought in World War I, Motion composed a five part poem, read and received by Patch at the Bishop's Palace in Wells in 2008. As laureate, he also founded the Poetry Archive an on-line library of historic and contemporary recordings of poets reciting their own work.
Motion remarked that he found some of the duties attendant to the post of poet laureate difficult and onerous and that the appointment had been "very, very damaging to [his] work". The appointment of Motion met with criticism from some quarters. As he prepared to stand down from the job, Motion published an article in The Guardian which concluded, "To have had 10 years working as laureate has been remarkable. Sometimes it's been remarkably difficult, the laureate has to take a lot of flak, one way or another. More often it has been remarkably fulfilling. I'm glad I did it, and I'm glad I'm giving it up – especially since I mean to continue working for poetry." Motion spent his last day as Poet Laureate holding a creative writing class at his alma mater, Radley College, before giving a poetry reading and thanking Peter Way, the man who taught him English at Radley, for making him who he was. Carol Ann Duffy succeeded him as Poet Laureate on 1 May 2009.
Andrew Motion nació en 1952. Estudió en el University College de Oxford y empezó su carrera enseñando inglés en la Universidad de Hull. También ha sido director de Poetry Review, director editorial de Chatto & Windus, y Poeta Laureado; asimismo, fue cofundador del Poetry Archive, y en 2009 se le concedió el título de Sir por su obra literaria. En la actualidad es profesor de escritura creativa en el Royal Holloway, de la Universidad de Londres. Es miembro de la Royal Society of Literature y vive en Londres. Con un elenco de nobles marineros y crueles piratas, y llena de historias de amor y de valentía, Regreso a la isla del tesoro es una trepidante continuación de La isla del tesoro, escrita con extraordinaria autenticidad y fuerza imaginativa por uno de los grandes escritores ingleses actuales.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
June 23, 2023
It starts with the word
you breathe in my ear
which enters my heart
with a thundering roar:
it starts with love.
***
...the lines of desire,
the furtive steps up hillsides or deep under trees-
as if every footprint that we had set down on the world
were still to be seen , and we could be sure
which trails we had followed were false, which true,
and where we were lost before we came into our own.
***
It happened today.
I wanted to give you my love but when I tried I couldn't get through,
so I left my hotel and walked along the coast road into the city:
the rain fell hard, stinging my face,
and steamed-up taxis slowed as they drew level then sped off honking.
I found an empty bar and another telephone
but the lines were still down, and when I craned into the darkness
I could hear the miles crackle, could see the wind and the sleet
filling the spaces between us.
You were nowhere,
and when I shut my eyes tight
I felt rooted into that sour ground.
I could even sense the earth
turning,
the fire at its heart nearly out,
the cold
seeping through galleries of black stone
into the soles of my shoes.
I gave up
and walked back into the rain.
You were somewhere,
I knew that, at least, not here but somewhere,
and I would find you
as long as I went on looking.
***
As though everything I knew to be complicated
was in fact easy.
As though the price of everything
had finally been agreed.
As though the past was really the past
and I had escaped it.
As though I could grip the rail with both hands,
lean over,
and see the waves change from brown to translucent blue,
and the wind drop,
and you...
you breathe in my ear
which enters my heart
with a thundering roar:
it starts with love.
***
...the lines of desire,
the furtive steps up hillsides or deep under trees-
as if every footprint that we had set down on the world
were still to be seen , and we could be sure
which trails we had followed were false, which true,
and where we were lost before we came into our own.
***
It happened today.
I wanted to give you my love but when I tried I couldn't get through,
so I left my hotel and walked along the coast road into the city:
the rain fell hard, stinging my face,
and steamed-up taxis slowed as they drew level then sped off honking.
I found an empty bar and another telephone
but the lines were still down, and when I craned into the darkness
I could hear the miles crackle, could see the wind and the sleet
filling the spaces between us.
You were nowhere,
and when I shut my eyes tight
I felt rooted into that sour ground.
I could even sense the earth
turning,
the fire at its heart nearly out,
the cold
seeping through galleries of black stone
into the soles of my shoes.
I gave up
and walked back into the rain.
You were somewhere,
I knew that, at least, not here but somewhere,
and I would find you
as long as I went on looking.
***
As though everything I knew to be complicated
was in fact easy.
As though the price of everything
had finally been agreed.
As though the past was really the past
and I had escaped it.
As though I could grip the rail with both hands,
lean over,
and see the waves change from brown to translucent blue,
and the wind drop,
and you...
July 3, 2017
This book was a pleasant little surprise, helped by the fact that I got it super cheap at a village fair in aid of charity. I think I paid 20p for it, which was well worth it. Motion is a former poet laureate, and while I wasn’t blown away by his poetry and his writing, it was still a decent enough read and worth reading if you get a chance.
Motion’s poetry blurs the line between classical and contemporary, but I can see how much of the work here would have been innovative when it first appeared. I don’t think I’d go out of my way to read any more of his work, but I am glad that I got the chance to read this much. I think poetry like Motion’s is necessary.
Motion’s poetry blurs the line between classical and contemporary, but I can see how much of the work here would have been innovative when it first appeared. I don’t think I’d go out of my way to read any more of his work, but I am glad that I got the chance to read this much. I think poetry like Motion’s is necessary.
December 30, 2018
What an insight to poetry on the theme of memory. I really enjoyed reading this book. It was a collection of rich poetic language and sentiments. Totally recommend!
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September 2, 2024randomly moving particles
March 20, 2009
Contemporary stuff from the poet lauriet, some interesting angles and distinctive observations.
January 26, 2013
heartbreaking soul-destroying basically
December 7, 2016
toto mi tak dobre padlo.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews