Resurrection in barley
An astonishing image used by Seamus Heaney in his 'Requiem for the Croppies', as he explains here regarding the poem...
Fire or flood?
How did the Flood of floods come about? According to Hughes' irresistible re-telling of Ovid's tales, Jove quietly considered the...
Poems for my family 005 – McGee
Inspired by a high altitude test flight, this dazzling poem has added poignancy because John Gillespie McGee (1922-41) died soon...
Poems for my family 003 – Donne
Listening time: under 3 minutes.
This is the third poem I chose to share with my family, copied out by...
Language as anchor and mooring
Heaney uses several maritime metaphors in discussing a poem set in a sea-faring culture. Here he refers to speech that...
Speed meets beauty
One of the most vivid and original similes I have come across is Ted Hughes' description of the two dazzling...
As free and lawless as a lamb’s bleat
First, the unusual simile, I never thought of a lamb's bleat as free or lawless. Then the idea that a...
Poems for my family 004 – Durrell
Listening time: under 5 minutes.
Durrell has long been a favourite writer and poet. When I first read his Alexandria...
There is no method but yourself
Wisely or no, this has pretty much been my haphazard method of reading poetry since I left formal study. With...
To see at a distance
Thoreau has many striking things to say about poets, and even if I can't seize on them as definitive or...
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