Andrew Motion’s profoundly moving new book is a sequence of war poems referring to 20th – and 21st-century conflicts that have involved British forces: among them, the First World War, the Second World War, the war in Iraq and the war in Afghanistan. Several of the poems are based on memories of the poet’s father, who landed at D-day and fought in France and Germany; many more take the words of other soldiers (from books, interviews and suchlike) to create ‘found poems’ that are in a sense collaborations between the author and his source. The result is lyric poetry which for all its emotional impact, and deeply-felt sympathy, might be described as ‘ego-less’ – in the sense that the question…
Category: Laurels And Donkeys
Andrew Motion – Laurels and Donkeys
Announcing the forthcoming publication of Laurels and Donkeys by Andrew Motion, 11th November 2010 ISBN 978-0-9565432-1-9 This profoundly moving new book is a sequence of war poems referring to 20th – and 21st-century conflicts that have involved British forces: among them, the First World War, the Second World War, the war in Iraq and the war in Afghanistan. Several of the poems are based on memories of the poet’s father, who landed at D-day and fought in France and Germany; many more take the words of other soldiers (from books, interviews and suchlike) to create ‘found poems’ that are in a sense collaborations between the author and his source. The result is lyric poetry which for all its emotional…