This selection provides a perfect introduction to Armitage's work as well as offering a timely retrospective of one of the brightest stars of contemporary poetry. Made by Simon Armitage himself from his poetry to date, Selected Poems includes work from six published volumes, from Zoom! (1989) through to the poem commissioned for the Millennium, Killing Time.
Selected Poems of Simon Armitage
and over 1.5 million other books are available for Amazon Kindle . Learn more
| ||||||||||||||||||||
 Trade In this Item for up to £0.60
Trade in Selected Poems of Simon Armitage for an Amazon.co.uk gift card of up to £0.60, which you can then spend on millions of items across the site. Trade-in values may vary (terms apply). Learn more
|
Book Description
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
More About the Author
Discover books, learn about writers, and more.
Product Description
Review
'Armitage creates a muscular but elegant language of his own out of slangy, youthful, up-to-the-minute jargon and the vernacular of his native northern England. He combines this with an easily worn erudition, plenty of nous and the benefit of unblinkered experience... to produce poems of moving originality.' Peter Reading, Sunday Times; 'Armitage writes with wit and feeling about experiences and conditions which poetry often turns its back on.' Jamie McKendrick, Independent; 'Of the fresh faces that have enlivened poetry over the last half-dozen years, none has loomed larger or fresher than that of Simon Armitage.' Mick Imlah, Vogue
From the Publisher
We are pleased to announce the publication of eleven more titles into the new typographic look. The specifications for the books are high -beautifully produced, they all have flaps and are sewn and printed in Italy. The latest batch represents some of the core titles of the backlist (Philip Larkin's Collected Poems, Ted Hughes's New Selected Poems, James Joyce's Poems and Shorter Writings) along with key, single volumes that should be part of any poetry lover's library (and whose reissue, in the form in which they were first published, will give a whole new generation the pleasure of coming to the books as original readers).
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
29 of 33 people found the following review helpful
By "rainbowtea"
Format:Paperback
I became interested in Simon Armitage via the Tom McRae album, Just like Blood, so when I searched for a volume of Simon Armitage poetry this is what I found. I have discovered my favourite poet here. I love many of the poems but my favourites are from Book of Matches and The Dead Sea Poems, both of which I now have firmly rooted in my growing poetry collection.
I Say I Say I Say from The Dead Sea Poems is my absolute favourite, no doubt about it. This volume is fantastic for anyone who is curious about Simon Armitage, trust me, it will not be a disappointment when it arrives through the letter box.
I Say I Say I Say from The Dead Sea Poems is my absolute favourite, no doubt about it. This volume is fantastic for anyone who is curious about Simon Armitage, trust me, it will not be a disappointment when it arrives through the letter box.
By S. Eden
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Recent convert to Simon's poems ... find some of them difficult to understand but a really good selection in this book.
9 of 13 people found the following review helpful
By Eileen Shaw
TOP 1000 REVIEWER
Format:Paperback
Simon Armitage used to be a social worker, now he's a world class poet. A `kid' from Huddersfield who manages in these poems to create a kind of magic, an effortless-seeming cornucopia of words that both thrill and caution, cauterise and twist in the gut. He has his magical gifts wrapped up with newspaper and barbed wire, his images are street-level, sarky, litanies of lives and living. Poems angry and uncouth, like their subjects, or down in the political morass - take this for instance, a verse from 'Lines Thought to Have Been Written on the Eve of the Execution of a Warrant for His Arrest':
Down Birdcage Walk in riots or wartime
we will not hear of her hitching her skirt
or see for ourselves that frantic footwork,
busy like a swan's beneath the surface.
But quickly our tank will stop in its tracks;
they'll turn the turret lid back like a stone;
inside, our faces set like flint, her name
cross-threaded in the barrels of our throats.
No guess needed as to whom that refers.
'To His Lost Lover' may be the best poem ever about a love affair that wasn't, and 'A Week And A Fortnight' is like a glimpse into uncovered lives only ever read about in shocking headlines. There is a certain slickness, something of a flash, urgent, disregard to some of this work. Perhaps evidence of the craft that goes into poetry-making is missing? If so, it's as it should be. Something especially in the internal rhythms, the beautiful power of the enjambments. Though I feel this is only because it reads effortlessly, and is so blindingly apposite. These lines below from 'A Book of Matches' are haunting:
Tonight I'm blank, burnt out, parked
in the garage with the engine running, in the dark.
The ones who know me hold me at arm's length,
the others want to see me dead.
Not yet.
I tear the last match from the book,
fetch it hard and once
across the windscreen. In the glass
I'm taken with myself, caught in the act -
conducting light, until the heat licks
up against my thumb and fingertips, unlocks
my hand, gives me a start, trips
something in the flashbulb of my heart.
Down Birdcage Walk in riots or wartime
we will not hear of her hitching her skirt
or see for ourselves that frantic footwork,
busy like a swan's beneath the surface.
But quickly our tank will stop in its tracks;
they'll turn the turret lid back like a stone;
inside, our faces set like flint, her name
cross-threaded in the barrels of our throats.
No guess needed as to whom that refers.
'To His Lost Lover' may be the best poem ever about a love affair that wasn't, and 'A Week And A Fortnight' is like a glimpse into uncovered lives only ever read about in shocking headlines. There is a certain slickness, something of a flash, urgent, disregard to some of this work. Perhaps evidence of the craft that goes into poetry-making is missing? If so, it's as it should be. Something especially in the internal rhythms, the beautiful power of the enjambments. Though I feel this is only because it reads effortlessly, and is so blindingly apposite. These lines below from 'A Book of Matches' are haunting:
Tonight I'm blank, burnt out, parked
in the garage with the engine running, in the dark.
The ones who know me hold me at arm's length,
the others want to see me dead.
Not yet.
I tear the last match from the book,
fetch it hard and once
across the windscreen. In the glass
I'm taken with myself, caught in the act -
conducting light, until the heat licks
up against my thumb and fingertips, unlocks
my hand, gives me a start, trips
something in the flashbulb of my heart.
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
›
Go to Amazon.com to see the review
4.0 out of 5 stars
Was this review helpful?
Let us know
Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
The lad that made good
There's a lot of reasons why you like a poet. If you have so many that they cancel each other out the instant you try to set them out on paper, it's a good sign you've struck gold. Read more
Published 13 months ago by Ryan Williams
1.0 out of 5 stars
Poor excuse for a poet
I can't believe people rate this man as a poet. It's amateurish at best, crikey I've heard better poems being read in coffee shops.
Published on 4 Sep 2010 by E. Olsson
5.0 out of 5 stars
poetry at its best
Simon Armatige is a brilliant modern day poet. his poems are relevant and stike a cord in all who read them.
well worth a read as its a good mix of his work
well worth a read as its a good mix of his work
Published on 17 Feb 2009 by Ms. L. Walters
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
![[Start the discussion]](http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/02/x-locale/communities/discussion_boards/start-new-discussion-sec._V192198663_.gif){kind=small}
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
