Study of Cultural Centres and Margins in British Poetry Since 1950 Poets and Publishers

Drawing on the author's experience both inside and outside the British literary milieu, this volume gives a unique and often contentious view of the late-twentieth-century poetry canon, and the way that this canon has been established. As well as offering an interpretive overview, the book is valuable in suggesting different perspectives on the poetry of several specific key figures writing in Britain, such as Philip Larkin and Seamus Heaney. But it does not neglect other writers who have been forced onto the periphery of the poetry-publishing world, such as representatives of various ethnic and gender groups working in Britain during this period (e.g., the Northern Ireland frontier, West Indian poets, feminist poets). It adds up to a stimulating and provocative account of what's been happening in British poetry in recent years.