Poetry of Witness

Poetry of Witness is the first anthology to reveal a tradition that runs through English-language poetry. Bearing witness to historical events and the irresistibility of their impact, the authors awaited execution, endured imprisonment, fought on the battlefield or laboured on the brink of breakdown [...]
Visa längre beskrivning

Poetry of Witness is the first anthology to reveal a tradition that runs through English-language poetry. Bearing witness to historical events and the irresistibility of their impact, the authors awaited execution, endured imprisonment, fought on the battlefield or laboured on the brink of breakdown or death. Alongside Shakespeare, Milton and Wordsworth, this volume includes such writers as Anne Askew, tortured and executed for her religious beliefs during the reign of Henry VIII; Phillis Wheatley, abducted by slave traders; Samuel Bamford, present at the Peterloo Massacre; William Blake, who witnessed the Gordon Riots and Samuel Menashe, survivor of the Battle of the Bulge. Poetry of Witness argues that such poets are a perennial feature of human history and it presents the best of that tradition.