Poems of the Decade: An Anthology of the Forward Books of Poetry

Product Information

The Forward Prizes for Poetry have established themselves as central to the literary landscape of modern Britain. Andrew Marr The adjective “sharp” is a distinctive choice which has connotations of precision and accuracy, but also of potential pain and suffering, perhaps highlighting the potential impacts of these transitions and passages. In addition, the idea of the stairwell and stairs could be interpreted as both a physical and mental transition of childhood to adolescence and adulthood. The very rigid form of the poem helps to represent the strict regime imposed by the feeder, and how it has become commonplace. There are a total of ten tercet stanzas, which adds to the overall regimented mood. In addition, there is assonance between the final words on the first and third lines of each stanza, such as “cake” and “weight”, with an alternative form of assonance in each line which breaks from the traditional idea of using rhyme. This is a very interesting rhyme scheme for a reader because it enables variety of language while still maintaining a sense of conformity and expectations, potentially echoing the expectations of the feeder.

Even more interesting is the use of consonance on each corresponding line, for example the first line of each stanza has the “k” sound, “d” on the second and “t” on the third. The only point in which this is broken in the poem is at the end of stanza six, but even this is largely negated by the fact that the next word is “too” so therefore continues the overall consonance. These strong sounds once again evoke ideas of force and control, showing how important this is to the poem. This is a book of movement that becomes deliberate in the very moment it occurs. It is a book of unapologetic wandering and unapologetic reflection. It is a beautiful collection, and is all the more beautiful for how it invites its readers to wander with it. – Jessie Gaynor, Social Media Editor In this module, we read through Tim Turnbull’s ‘Ode on a Grayson Perry Urn’, focusing in particular on: (i) the concept of ecphrasis, a verbal description of a work of art, and two works of art to which this poem is responding – Grayson Perry’s ‘Language of Cars’ (1999) and John Keats’ ‘Ode on a Grecian Urn’ (1820); (ii) the timelessness of the characters on the urn – and of poetry itself. Explore the ways in which femininity and masculinity are contrasted in ‘The Chainsaw Versus The Pampas Grass’ by Simon Armitage. CD Wright could be on this list for any number of books she wrote in the last decade—which is saying a lot, considering she died far too early, in 2016. Even her posthumous meditation on the beech tree, Casting Deep Shade, could probably survive aggressive cross-genre shoehorning from lyric nonfiction to poetry.* So with that sort of inter-disciplinary invention in mind, I offer you Wright’s 2011 National Book Award finalist, One With Others, a book-length poem that could also be described as… lyric documentary?Language urges you to push against what you might think you know, what you might initially be inclined to draw from what you’ve observed and even what you believe. That’s exciting because you’re wandering away from the things that you feel confident of, and you’re wandering into a place where—oh, maybe you’re not so right. Maybe you’re vulnerable in ways that you hadn’t anticipated, and maybe the vulnerability that you’re willing to claim isn’t the whole story.” Compare the ways in which personal struggles are explored in ‘The Lammas Hireling’ by Ian Duhig and ‘Look We Have Coming to Dover!’ by Daljit Nagra.

Friends, it’s true: the end of the decade approaches. It’s been a difficult, anxiety-provoking, morally compromised decade, but at least it’s been populated by some damn fine literature. We’ll take our silver linings where we can. The Forwards are among the world’s most coveted poetry honours. They have been awarded annually since 1992 for the Best Collection, Best First Collection and Best Single Poem published in Britain and Ireland, and the roster of winning, shortlisted and highly commended poets regularly juxtaposes familiar canonical names with fresh voices.Various poetic devices are used throughout ‘Eat Me’, one of the more common ones being alliteration. A key example is “bigger the better” and “broad belly wobble”, both of which help to reaffirm the idea of obesity and being overweight, and even have a ‘wobbly’ nature to the sound. This is further emphasised through the repetition of ‘fat’ throughout the poem, helping to ensure that this idea is never far from the reader’s thoughts, particularly in the seventh stanza. The forceful yet resentful tone of this stanza is particularly noticeable because of the way that the pace is increased. Power: Throughout ‘Eat Me’ the idea of power is very important because it is fundamental to the ‘feeder’ relationship. Without this power it wouldn’t be able to operate, and the objectification and possession would not be able to take place. Poems of the Decade is a celebration of the last ten years of poetry published in the UK and Ireland. The 100 poems contained in this anthology were selected from the many thousands of poems submitted to the Forward Prizes for Poetry over the past ten years. Interpreture gives ‘An Easy Passage’ a difficulty rating of 4, meaning that it is deemed to be a relatively difficult poem. The meaning is somewhat challenging to understand at first, not helped by the very dense structure which makes it difficult to separate out different sections. As such, these different factors mean that extra focus and attention needs to be made to ensure a full understanding of the poem. ‘An Easy Passage’ Interpreture gives ‘Eat Me’ a difficulty rating of 3, meaning that it is deemed to be of average difficulty. The difficulty is spread relatively evenly throughout the different aspects of the poem, with the potential of challenging techniques being partially outweighed by the variety of devices, making analysis relatively easy in an exam situation. ‘Eat Me’

Bright Dead Things is organized into four untitled sections, the first of which opens with “How to Triumph Like a Girl,” which sets the tone for the collection to come—we will be in motion, we will wander, and we will not skirt genuine feeling in favor of irony. “I like the lady horses best, / how they make it all look easy, / like running 40 miles per hour / is as easy as taking a nap, or grass,” she writes. The speaker of the poem admits that she likes the horses mainly because they’re ladies, which means she might share something elemental with them. It means “that somewhere inside the delicate / skin of my body, there pumps / an 8-pound female horse heart.” This is a book that will not hesitate to talk about heart, to name that heart. The careful, meditative sentences that form Phillips’ poems give the impression of a speaker who is profoundly compassionate to themselves, one who gives themselves the space and time to articulate ambiguity without striving to resolve it, and who can recognize what is beautiful without clinging to it. In Wild is the Wind, questions about attachment and commitment unfold deliberately, and to read them is to listen, carefully, to meditations like this:

The Hardest List Yet

Compare the ways in which personal development and experience are presented in ‘The Furthest Distances I’ve Travelled’ by Leonita Flynn and ‘An Easy Passage’ by Julia Copus Use these questions to practice your essential essay writing skills, and consolidate your understanding of individual prescribed poems. These poems were previously prescribed by Edexcel, and as such we have commentary and analysis available. MAIN BODY: disagree - the poets come to a point of disagreement in their portrayals of how - in poem A, - on the other hand, poet B adopts a more - yet the reader becomes increasingly aware