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9781784109936

In The Event

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John Birtwhistle has said that one writes each poem just to learn how to write it, and insists that he doesn’t care a dried pea for Artistic Development or Finding Ones Own Voice. The result, of course, is that a strongly recognisable voice comes through. For all their variety of forms and ideas, his poems are consistent in their visual precision, their scrupulous phrasing and their formal clarity. These qualities are brought to everything he touches, whether it is a passing moment of childhood, a natural detail, a wryly stoic observation, or perennial emotions in the face of events from before birth (first foetal movements) to after burial (removal to an ossuary). Many scores of individuals are named or make their appearance in some way. If one poem is satiric, the next is unashamedly lyrical. Several reflect on the adequacy of art, and a feature is the stream of very short pieces by way of illustration or riposte, like the border of the Bayeux Tapestry. Wit and feeling are so interwoven in Birtwhistles technique, that when it comes to the register of loss and death he is able to find what an otherwise hostile critic admitted can be a kind of bridled eloquence. Word frequency analysis shows a high incidence of time, thought, light, morning, child, apple tree, painting and fossil.

John Birtwhistle (born 1946) is an English poet whose libretto for David Blake’s opera The Plumber’s Gift (1989) was staged by English National Opera at the London Coliseum and broadcast on Radio 3.  Birtwhistle, a "master craftsman", won an Eric Gregory Award from the Society of Authors in 1975. His poetry was also recognised by an Arts Council bursary, an Arts Council creative writing fellowship (1976–78), a writing fellowship at the University of Southampton (1978–80) and a Poetry Book Society recommendation for Our Worst Suspicions (1985).

* Winner of a PBS Recommendation (1985) and an Eric Gregory Award.
* First collection since 2013, this is a thematic sequel to his previous collection Eventualities.
* Writes on a range of literary, political and personal subjects, affected by his roles as a parent and as a librettist.
* His concert libretti for David Blake’s opera The Plumber’s Gift was staged by English National Opera and broadcast on Radio 3.
 

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