A fresh spin on the sonnet, this subtle contemplation of art, love and language makes the poem into a home Ars Poetica, XI This is the myth of love’s tenderness: that it only heals and cannot wound. After thirty years of spinning around...
200 years after the revolutionary Romantic poet Lord Byron’s death, Greeks are celebrating his place in their national pantheon On Wednesday 18 August 1880, a sale was held at Sotheby’s in London. Among the items up for grabs were...
Production examines why Scottish poet’s The Living Mountain lay unpublished in a drawer for 30 years Nan Shepherd, the Scottish poet and nature writer whose vivid reflections on her treks through the Cairngorms have brought posthumous...
An austere song of praise to a flower that withstands the battering of nature is also an intense response to classical Greek literature Sea Rose Rose, harsh rose, marred and with stint of petals, meagre flower, thin, sparse of leaf,...
Whether by striking workers, poets or Pussy Riot, our feline friends have long been used as a symbol of resistance – radical by nature, they refuse to be tamed In the 60 years since Julie Andrews sang about the cheering possibilities of...
The writer, who was adopted as a baby by Scottish communists, on her life in protest, facing racism in suburban Glasgow, and why her late parents are at the heart of her new collection The Scottish poet and writer Jackie Kay is...
My mother, Kim Taplin, who has died aged 80, was a writer and poet. Her work celebrated the natural world in ways that link the personal and political. The English Path , first published in 1979, explores footpaths in literature, showing...
The poet’s uncompromising second collection, about her husband’s addiction to crystal meth, is fascinating and troubling There is always the temptation to tell it like it wasn’t when a subject is painful. Words can tinker...
A Hungarian schoolboy recently arrived in 1950s England has to switch his allegiances in a hurry Diesel or s team You’re standing in the doorway after class when Jimmy wants to know if you prefer diesel or steam. You can’t simply say...
Council contractor says sorry amid anger at removal of artwork of poet from an underpass in Hockley area A council contractor has apologised after painting over a mural of the late poet and actor Benjamin Zephaniah in Birmingham. The...
A Year of Last Things by Michael Ondaatje; The Silence by Gillian Clarke; Joy in Service on Rue Tagore by Paul Muldoon; May Day by Jackie Kay; I Cannot Be Good Until You Say It by Sanah Ahsan; Grief’s Alphabet by Carrie Etter A Year of...
Poet who is curating country’s first Venice Biennale pavilion says ‘part of the heart’ of the country was looted and is being held in museums An Ethiopian cultural surge – including a first national pavilion at the Venice Biennale and...
Honours that span fiction, nonfiction, drama and poetry go to practitioners around the world including novelist Deirdre Madden and poet Jen Hadfield Deirdre Madden, Kathryn Scanlan and Hanif Abdurraqib are among the eight recipients of...
A horrifying story of racial violence told from the point of view of an oak tree bough is all the more disturbing for its imitation of the ballad form The Haunted Oak Pray why are you so bare, so bare, Oh, bough of the old oak tree; And...
The Iranian-American poet’s debut novel tells the tale of a bereaved writer – but struggles with too much angst In Martyr!, the debut novel by Iranian-American poet Kaveh Akbar, a troubled young man is searching for a reason to live....
Andrew Stauffer conveys the vigour and pace of the poet’s escapades with brio, but stumbles when he suggests Byron anticipated modern celebrity Wordsworth called poetry “the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings”, but in Byron’s case...
Imogen Wade’s The Time I Was Mugged in New York City impresses judges for ‘lyricism in the account of an abduction’ • Scroll down to read the winning poem A poem inspired by the author’s experience of being mugged has won the first prize...
This evocation of springtime quickly takes on a darker tone and stands among the author’s unforgettable works The saddest noise, the sweetest noise (No 1789) The saddest noise, the sweetest noise, The maddest noise that grows, — The...
Poet laureate produces 10 poems, haiku and a musical EP, working with National Trust as it renews its blossom campaign He imagines blossom as fancy dress, as an artist or a magician lighting up countryside, town and city. Yes, it is a...
When the Light of the World Was Subdued, Our Songs Came Through collects the work of more than 160 poets. "A poem opens up time, it opens up memory, it opens up place," says Harjo, U.S. Poet Laureate.