In the Blood: A Memoir of My Childhood

by Andrew Motion

Despair over human impermanence and the desire to preserve what has been known and felt, even grief, reverberate at the heart of this memoir of childhood and adolescence in rural postwar England.

Genres: Nonfiction, Memoir, Biography, Biography Memoir, Literature

326 pages, Hardcover

First published September 7, 2006

About the author

Sir 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.

Reviews

[Susanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautifully written memoir of a particular kind of post-war country childhood, which ended abruptly for the teenage poet when his mother was seriously injured in a riding accident. It's told completely from the very young man's point of view, without any benefit of adult insight or explanation. Extremely moving. I felt compelled to find out what happened to the author's mother, after I'd finished the book, and was saddened to learn that she lingered on for nine years after the accident, in and out of a coma.

[David James · Rating 5 out of 5]

This moving and detailed account of Andrew Motion's childhood has all the quality of a novel; in short, it's a page-turner, but one that the reader is reluctant to speed through. Moreover, almost every page has that special quality of lucid language and insightful detail that one expects from the best poetry.

Some Amazon reviewers have referred to the 'class issue' and one of them harks back to Sassoon's Memoirs of a Fox-hunting Man, which is perfectly apposite. But the fact that Motion in adolescence resigns from the hunting set puts him in the modern age of enlightened thinkers. As a child one is a victim, subject to many influences and pressures that later need to be questioned. Motion does all of this, but never loses touch with his roots, as the title indicates. In fact, the nuclear family - Andrew, brother Kit and the parents - are exquisitely drawn portraits of loving, caring people, and this book is a tribute to them as much as a revelation of the ex-Poet Laureate's childhood.

I would heartily recommend this book, both to young people, who will identify with the Andrew Motion's struggles with the problems of adolescence, and oldies, like me, who remember the war, evacuation, rationing, and times when schools were largely punitive institutions, intent on turning boys into real men, by floggings and the arbitrary imposition of petty rules. In this book it is not only the child but the mother whose stiff upper lip trembles before each new term. Indeed, the intimate relationship between Andrew, the elder son, and his mother is the golden thread that unifies the book. The school scenes recalled to me Joyce's portrait of Clongowes, while, in passionate intensity, the domestic scenes rival those of Sons and Lovers.

[Larry · Rating 5 out of 5]

I first heard Andrew Motion on BBC 4 in 2008. I knew he was Britain’s Poet Laureate at the time and while the title has sometimes in the past put me off exploring the writings of the one who holds the title, I decided to explore his work and that is where I came across this book. This was mentioned on a BBC programme and someone said it was a wonderful read. I wish I could recall who that person was as I would like to thank them profusely. This is a wonderful book. With the opening reflecting on the day his beloved Mother was seriously injured in a horse riding accident its is constantly in the back of your mind as you read the story of Andrew’s youth leading up to the accident. He writes beautifully and its easy to recognize only after a few pages that he is always was a poet seeing everything through a poet’s perceptive eyes. It’s a heart-felt story with the event of the accident formulating the character of Andrew Motion and one which is a constant theme and periphery in his early poetic works. My heart went out to Andrew as a young man dealing with this tragedy. Since reading this book I have read a good deal of Andrew poetry and some of his prose and I am a better person for having discovered him and his work.

[Linda B · Rating 2 out of 5]

Recommended reading for writing course. Could tell it was well written, but I feel like I've read the story of privileged boy goes from Home Counties to prep school just enough times, thank you. Skipped huge chunks of the school bits.

[Geoff Cumberbeach · Rating 4 out of 5]

A sensitive and touching memoir of childhood, growing up, family and friends relationships, especially his gentle observances of a strong bond and relationship with his mother.
He displays throughout his acute observation and amazing recall of detail.
He relates how he became a poet through illness and encouragement of a faithful English teacher.

[Loraine · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful book! Motion’s prose is clear and understated, trusting the reader to draw connections rather than forcing conclusions. The result is a thoughtful, humane memoir that shows how character is formed through loss, inheritance, and what remains unspoken.

[Ian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautifully written memoir of Motion's upper-middle class childhood in the 1950s and 60s. The book is framed by the first and last chapters that concern his mothers riding accident when he was 17, that left her in a coma from which she never recovered. These chapters being written in the present tense with the rest in the past and thus from the viewpoint of a teenager. It was an interesting insight into a post war class of family that was in his father's words a dying breed, being crowded out by the encroaching suburbs and social change. We have lots of riding, hunting and shooting, a loving mother and a more distant, restrained ex-military father. Large parts of it deal with school. Sent away to board at a prep school at seven, we get homesickness, beatings, introversion and a comfort from and a love of nature. Later at public school, much more liberal and encouraging, Motion takes stock of who he is, finds poetry and rejects a lot of his upbringing values. Or at least the fox hunting and politics. The central theme however is the bond between a mother and a son and how his childhood comes crashing to a stop one day when he is 17. The book is shot through with poetical observations and is the type that leaves you wanting more when finished. Excellent read.

[Godine Publisher & Black Sparrow Press · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Motion, Britain's poet laureate, was 16 in 1968 when his beloved mother fell into a coma after a hunting accident and his childhood "ended suddenly." After this shock opening, Motion recounts the scenes and events of that childhood, which range from warm early memories of growing up "country gentry" in Hertfordshire to being sent off to a Dickensian boarding school—with disgusting food, terrible sanitation and a headmaster who enjoyed beating little boys—at age seven. The book soars into the extraordinary when Motion recounts his early teens. A new boarding school brought a sympathetic headmaster who recognized the potential in the unread country boy's love for Dylan and Hendrix and encouraged him toward poetry. (A heartwrenchingly beautiful scene describes his slow, awed discovery of Thomas Hardy.) By age 15, Motion had made his first real friend and entered a new relationship with his mother, who read eagerly in partnership with him. Motion perfectly conveys the "new faster time" of adolescent thinking and subtly conveys us back to his mother's tragedy with a new understanding of its importance to his entire life."
— Publishers Weekly, August 13, 2007

[Joyce · Rating 4 out of 5]

Andrew Motion is England's poet laureate. This memoir is of his life at home and school before his mother suffers a debilitating brain injury while hunting.

He leads a typical (I guess) upper-class English life -- sent away to school at 8, riding & hunting, lots of dogs. Experiences the Dickensian discipline British boarding schools are known for; kind of strange when juxtaposed with descriptions of the getting the latest Moody Blues and Rolling Stones releases. (Motion is 56.) He seems to take it all in stride.

The best part of the memoir is the depiction of his relationship with his mother. She is kind and wise, and he finds her beautiful. You get the impression that the story ends where it does not just because her injury represents the exact moment that he has to abandon childhood, but because he just can't bear to describe the loss it represents in his life.

[sisterimapoet · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this as part of an online book group - I might not otherwise have picked it up. But I'm very glad that I did. I didn't realise I cared about Andrew Motion - I can't recall if I've ever read any of his poetry. But I loved immersing myself in his childhood - which he portrayed so skilfully. So many scenes were vivid and colourful and tightly imaged - the poet's eye shone brightly on prose paragraphs. And although much of his childhood differed from my own, in setting, social class, events he touched on so many things common to anyone growing up, defining themselves as an individual within the framework of a family. And of course it's made me want to check out his poetry and novels too. But another good reminder that memoirs can be fascinating even if you have no prior interest in the author.

[Martha · Rating 3 out of 5]

I never was not interested in what would happen next to the young Andrew Motion, but I could not quite get over shipping a kid off to boarding school at the age of seven. And, really, neither does Motion. It is a glimpse into a life of privilege and a sad commentary on a mother dying young and missing so much of her sons' lives. However, Motion worships her despite her letting him go. His father is a background figure but a subtle study in a returning WWII vet damaged by combat and clueless about how to show affection to a son who wants his dad to be proud of him. ( Sound familiar?). No charming grannies or loving eccentric uncles or even a beloved horse to save the day.

[Vicky · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful writing as you would expect. What an incredible eye for detail Mr Motion has. At times the very lengthy nature descriptions had me glazing over just the tiniest part, but generally this was a very moving story and memoir. You are left wishing he'd tell the rest; the story stopping as it were, when he is 17 and facing his mum's devastating riding accident. His earlier poems give some insight into what happened next.

[Shirley McPhillips · Rating 5 out of 5]

A brilliant recreation of his childhood in post-war rural England, experiences and influences resulting later in Andrew Motion, Poet Laureate. Beautifully detailed, not analytical, alive and fresh in the present of his boyhood. I turned over the last page as if waving farewell to a friend.

[Janetiokepa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This memoir is poetry written in prose, so beautifully written--exquisite imagery & language through which we feel the profound insights of Motion's childhood and youth, captured complete in vivid detail as he intended. I love this book, the way he SEES the world and his own life as he lived it.

[Derbhile Graham · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beautifully written, but I was bored at times, when he waxed lyrical about the countryside or houses. It started brilliantly, and ended where it began, but you were left with more questions than answers, which annoyed me a little.

[Lynne · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an absolutely beautiful memoir. The whole book is a poem to Motion's mother and to his childhood. I'm not usually one for memoirs, but this is just incredible.

[Jennifer · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lovely descriptions and makes you appreciate the small things around you in life and made me appreciate poetry even more.

[Linden · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best memoirs I've read. Very poetic and heartbreaking.