I became interested in Robert Lowell’s poetry because of the criticism of Seamus Heaney. I had tried reading him before, … More
Tag: Reading
Lifesaving Poems: Tom Paulin’s ‘A Lyric Afterwards’
‘A Lyric Afterwards’ was the poem in which I finally got Tom Paulin. I had been given a tape of him … More
Lifesaving Poems: Paul Muldoon’s ‘Paris’
I love watching poets having fun. Think of Don Paterson shooting the breeze with Bill Herbert in the South Bank … More
Lifesaving Poems: Peter Scupham’s ‘Early Summer’
Early Summer Small things get lost now;There are intrusions,Defeats in alien worlds. This is the time to slide a foolish … More
Falling in love with Holub’s ‘Love’
I was lucky. I was taught English in one of those classrooms with complete sets of A Taste of Honey, … More
Iain Crichton-Smith’s ‘Poetry’
It was summer. I found myself on the top floor of the library, on the recommendation of a friend: … More
Lifesaving Poems:Elizabeth Bishop’s ‘Poem’
The funniest thing you will ever read about Elizabeth Bishop (or teaching, or anything else) is Mark Halliday‘s essay Moose … More
The Top 20 Lifesaving Poems
I began writing the Lifesaving Poems series of blog posts in May 2010. The idea was to celebrate the poems that I … More
The First 50 Lifesaving Poems
I began writing the Lifesaving Poems posts in June 2011, back when I was using Posterous for this blog. … More
Lifesaving Poems is one year old
A year ago I began the Lifesaving Poems series of blog posts. I got the idea for it after reading … More