All formats/editions
Description
Andrew Motion has been close to the centres of British poetry for over fifty years. Sleeping on Islands is his clear-sighted and open-hearted account of this remarkable career. It takes us from scenes of a teenage home-life coloured by tragedy and silence - where writing was as much a refuge as an assertion - to the excruciations of early public appearances, to the decade he spent as Poet Laureate, promoting and ensuring the central place of poetry in a nation's character. Along the way, we hear about the risks and sacrifices involved, as well as the difficulties of sustaining a commitment to writing within a helix of other obligations. We see in close-up the significance of Motion's formative relationship with W. H. Auden and his subsequent friendship with Philip Larkin. And during his time as Laureate, we witness memorable encounters with Royalty and Prime Ministers, and discover the costs and complications that accompany such a high-profile role. By turns moving and humorous, this is the intimate story of a rare poetic life. And it proves Motion's contention that the poems we most enjoy 'are not weird visitations, or ornaments stuck on the surface of life, but part of life's daily bread'.
You can find this title in the following lists:
All Formats/Editions
Click the Download button to download a copy of the MARC file.
Enter your FTP details below to send the MARC export file via FTP.
Product recommendations
by Andrew Motion
by Alice Taylor
by Sarah Harrison
by Monica Ali
by Louise Allen
by Kevin Brooks
by Lisa Allen-Agostini
by K.M. Ashman
by Anton Tcheckhov
by Paul Zindel
by Eva Ibbotson
Stay up to date with Wavesound news and announcements
telling your story