Overview

Poets have grappled with the vexed question of what constitutes Englishness since time immemorial, and the poetry of the past century has seen perhaps some of the biggest evolutions in national identity. Contraflow takes a completely new approach to the subject of Englishness, and in this stimulating and entertaining anthology two poetic currents flow against each other, so that different decades merge, well-known stanzas brushing shoulders with more neglected verse. What emerges is an extraordinary mosaic of poetic responses to English history, culture and landscape – satirical, visionary, lyrical, comic, political, meditative – yet one which offers a recognisable picture of a land both united and divided through a hundred years. A Guardian and Sunday Times poetry book of the year

Full Product Details

9781804470374

Table of Contents

Reviews

'A treasure trove for poetry lovers… The editors… have cleverly set familiar voices of the past alongside some of today’s best poets… If you tend not to read anything later than Larkin, this is a great way to bring yourself up to date.' -- Graeme Richardson * The Times * Editors John Greening and Kevin Gardner use an imaginative selection and arrangement of poems to uncover revelatory angles on an otherwise well-trodden subject. -- Rishi Dastidar * Guardian * A thoughtful collection which has had me chasing up the work of poets I would probably never have encountered. * The Betjeman Society Newsletter *

'A treasure trove for poetry lovers… The editors… have cleverly set familiar voices of the past alongside some of today’s best poets… If you tend not to read anything later than Larkin, this is a great way to bring yourself up to date.' -- Graeme Richardson * The Times * Editors John Greening and Kevin Gardner use an imaginative selection and arrangement of poems to uncover revelatory angles on an otherwise well-trodden subject. -- Rishi Dastidar * Guardian * A thoughtful collection which has had me chasing up the work of poets I would probably never have encountered. * The Betjeman Society Newsletter * A fascinating and rewarding selection, which provides a great deal of pleasure. -- Jonathan Taylor * Under the Radar * ‘An attractive anthology of poems about Englishness of one kind or another.’ -- Seamus Perry * TLS *

'A treasure trove for poetry lovers… The editors… have cleverly set familiar voices of the past alongside some of today’s best poets… If you tend not to read anything later than Larkin, this is a great way to bring yourself up to date.' -- Graeme Richardson * The Times * Editors John Greening and Kevin Gardner use an imaginative selection and arrangement of poems to uncover revelatory angles on an otherwise well-trodden subject. -- Rishi Dastidar * Guardian * A thoughtful collection which has had me chasing up the work of poets I would probably never have encountered. * The Betjeman Society Newsletter * A fascinating and rewarding selection, which provides a great deal of pleasure. -- Jonathan Taylor * Under the Radar *

Author Information

John Greening is the author of over twenty collections of poetry, most recently The Interpretation of Owls: Selected Poems 1977–2022. His essays on poetry are collected in Vapour Trails and A High Calling. He has taught in Upper Egypt, Scotland and New Jersey, and has lived for many years with his family in Cambridgeshire. Kevin Gardner is a critic, editor and Professor of English at Baylor University in Waco, Texas. He has published numerous essays on poets, from John Dryden to the present, has edited several volumes of the works of John Betjeman, and has worked on anthologies of church elegies (Building Jerusalem), country-house poems (Hollow Palaces, with John Greening) and Norfolk poetry (Before the Dreadful Daylight Starts, with Cameron Self). Ian is poet-in-residence for The Academy of Urbanism and Barnsley FC. He presents The Verb every week on BBC Radio 3 and he’s a regular on BBC Breakfast, Coast, Pick of the Week, You & Yours, Last Word and The Arts Show. Previously Ian was resident poet for English National Opera, UK Trade & Investment, Yorkshire TV’s Investigative Poet and Humberside Police’s Beat Poet. He’s been a castaway on Desert Island Discs and a subject of The South Bank Show. Cats make him sneeze.

Tab Content 6

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

Countries Available