The New Poetry

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A good selection of modern poetry - Rated
I had the opportunity to look at this book in some detail, as a set book for an A level English course, several years ago. The book contains a good cross-section of work from around 50 different poets, with a good mix of male/female and ethnic minority poets.

As a Scot myself, I particularly enjoyed the works of Liz Lochhead and Carol Ann Duffy but was also introduced for the first time to some examples of the writing of Lynton Kwesi Johnston.

The appeal of the book to me was that it offered a broad spectrum of work, from a wide range of poets of different backgrounds. No poet had more than 6 or so pieces of work included, which meant that the casual reader was not easily bored; if a particular poet did not appeal it was easy to find one who did.

Although I was not, in the first instance, reading the book through choice I have gone back to it on a regular basis since. It is an easy book to pick up and put down again within a few minutes and would be ideal for those looking for something to read on short train journeys. The complete selection from a particular poet could probably be read in 10-15 minutes maximum. The book also contains a short pen picture of each of the poets, complete with their background etc.

To summarise, I found this a useful and entertaining insight to the works of a broad range of poets, most of whom I had previously never heard of and whose work I would otherwise have been unlikely to sample. I recommend it.