Poetic subjects

Tony Harrison and Peter Reading

Neil Roberts

pp. 48-62

in: Gary Day, Brian Docherty (eds), British poetry from the 1950s to the 1990s, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 1997

Abstract

The apparent parallels between the poetry of Tony Harrison and Peter Reading are numerous. They are, of contemporary British poets, among the most preoccupied with and drawn to "traditional" forms, and yet they are both vehemently hostile to poetry as a 'special preserve" (Harrison) or "Ovaltine" (Reading). Contemporary social reality, often in ugly manifestations, finds its way into the work of both, and they make deliberately shocking and foregrounded use of obscene language — Harrison's v. caused an uproar when it was televised, and there is no doubt that either of Reading's last two volumes would have provoked a similar response. This is related to a more extensive and significant attempt on the part of both to integrate vernacular working-class speech into poetry — not only into poetry but, explicitly and self-consciously, into verse-forms that by custom belong to the educated classes.