Lifesaving Lines: Edge, by Sylvia Plath

But first came Plath. After Ursuala Le Guin, the only female author we studied (OK – Jane Austen). Her name … More

Lifsaving Lines: For Sheridan, by Robert Lowell

The line that’s been buzzing round my head the last couple of weeks is from Robert Lowell’s heartbreaking poem ‘For … More

Rupert Loydell is shouting at the countryside. I have got up at sparrow-fart to drive him to the Blandford … More

‘It’s even true of Ted Hughes.’ I look across at the book, whose head is now slumped on my desk, … More

Recently I have been reading the exquisite prose of Janna Malamud Smith, in her book-length meditation on creativity: An Absorbing Errand: … More

Well, it’s happening. Happened, I mean. Stuff I thought would last forever -film titles, the actors in them, scenes of … More

A comment Mark Robinson made in the days following Seamus Heaney’s death in August resonated with me. He said he … More

I became interested in Robert Lowell’s poetry because of the criticism of Seamus Heaney. I had tried reading him before, … More

I was struck by a remark of Seamus Heaney in an interview he gave some years ago now. He was … More