Crisis and Contemporary Poetry: An Introduction

What is it about?

This essay, the introduction to the collection Crisis and Contemporary Poetry, addresses poetic and critical responses to the various crises encountered by contemporary writers and our society. It provides a critical and historical context for the essays included in the collection which discuss a range of issues from the holocaust, the Troubles in Northern Ireland and their aftermath and the war on terror to the ecological crisis, poetry's relationship to place and questions of cultural and national identity. What are the means available to poetry to address the various crises it faces, and how can both poets and critics meet the challenges posed by society and the literary community? How can poetry justify its own role as a meaningful form of cultural and artistic practice? The volume as a whole focuses on poetry from Britain, Ireland and the US, and many of the poets discussed in this volume are among the most acclaimed contemporary writers, including for example Seamus Heaney, George Szirtes, Paul Muldoon, John Burnside, Michael Longley, Alice Oswald, Louise Glück, SuAndi, Lemn Sissay and Alice Oswald.

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Why is it important?

"Crisis and Contemporary Poetry dissects and discusses a number of controversial issues within poetry … It does so in a totally refreshing and inviting manner, which, by the book’s end, enables one to feel both enriched and enlightened." – David Marx, davidmarxbookreviews.wordpress.com