New British Poetry

Edited by William Logan

The poetry in this feature declares not its anxiety toward but its arguments with the tradition. If those arguments seem more within the encampment than without, they are only another mark of the Atlantic divide: the best British poetry is still composed from the constant play of formal ingenuity rather than the exudation of emotional states. These generalizations won’t hold across the range of either poetry; but I admire the allegiance, among younger British poets, to mind before feeling. British poets have in the past been criticized, by A. Alvarez among others, for their reserve; but the reserve that seemed pale twenty years ago, compared with the emotional stringencies of Lowell, Plath, and Berryman, has in the next generation produced poets who believe that feeling is deepest when channeled by mind, not when mastering it. . . .

What most intrigues me about these seven poets is that, though their solutions may be temporary, they prefer a seriousness cultivated by wit. The seriousness guarantees the absence of minimalist anecdotes, the wit of leached-out despair. From the working-class bark of Tony Harrison to the mordant flatness of Michael Hoffman, their lack of sentimentality allows a toughness rare in America. Missing from their poetry, not surprisingly, is a compulsive concern with the self.

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Poetry

On Not Being Milton

Poetry by Tony Harrison

Aqua Mortis

Poetry by Tony Harrison

The Call of Nature

Poetry by Tony Harrison

Long Distance

Poetry by Tony Harrison

Remains

Poetry by Tony Harrison

Sexual Couplets

Poetry by Craig Raine

The Grocer

Poetry by Craig Raine

Beware the Vibes of Marx

Poetry by Craig Raine

In the Kalahari Desert

Poetry by Craig Raine

Sentimental Education

Poetry by Jeffrey Wainwright

Before Battle

Poetry by Jeffrey Wainwright

Some Propositions and Part of a Narrative

Poetry by Jeffrey Wainwright

Sea Dreams

Poetry by Jeffrey Wainwright

On Finding an Old Photograph

Poetry by Wendy Cope

A Policeman’s Lot

Poetry by Wendy Cope

Mr. Strugnell

Poetry by Wendy Cope

The Lavatory Attendant

Poetry by Wendy Cope

from Strugnell’s Sonnets

Poetry by Wendy Cope

In a Notebook

Poetry by James Fenton

Lullaby for a Summer Recess

Poetry by James Fenton

A Vacant Possession

Poetry by James Fenton

The Wild Ones

Poetry by James Fenton

Letter to an Exile

Poetry by Andrew Motion

West 23rd

Poetry by Andrew Motion

Bathing at Glymenopoulo

Poetry by Andrew Motion

Sans-Souci

Poetry by Michael Hofmann

Incident from Antiquity

Poetry by Michael Hofmann

To a Classics Professor

Poetry by Michael Hofmann

Fürth i. Wald

Poetry by Michael Hofmann

Gruppenbild ohne Dame

Poetry by Michael Hofmann

Myopia in Rupert Brooke Country

Poetry by Michael Hofmann
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