Here to Eternity

Description

Since becoming Poet Laureate in 1999, Andrew Motion has been tireless in his efforts to raise the profile of poetry. In this wonderful anthology, he has brought together an extraordinary range of poems, exemplifying his belief that, if we let it, poetry has a unique power to enrich our lives as it diversifies them. The poems are arranged in a series of ten concentric rings: Self, Home, Town, Work, Land, Love, Travel, War, Belief and Space. Each section is distinct but seeks out resemblances and echoes elsewhere, creating the impression of an endlessly expanding universe. From Wallace Stevens to Stevie Smith, Joseph Brodsky to Jo Shapcott, Bob Dylan to Dylan Thomas, Ben Jonson to Benjamin Zephaniah, Here to Eternity provides a perfect introduction for new readers and offers surprising connections and revelations to those who are already well-versed. A beautifully repackage of this wonderfully accessible selection chosen by the Poet Laureate Includes poems by Wallace Stevens, Stevie Smith, Jo Shapcott, Bob Dylan, Dylan Thomas, Ben Jonson and Benjamin Zephaniah, to name but a few Arranged in ten distinct but interconnected sections, Here to Eternity provides a perfect introduction to poetry for new readers whilst also offering something to the already well-versed

Andrew Motion was born in 1952. He read English at University College, Oxford and subsequently spent two years writing about the poetry of Edward Thomas for an M. Lit. From 1976 to 1980 he taught English at the University of Hull; from 1980 to 1982 he edited the Poetry Review, and from 1982 to 1989 he was Editorial Director and Poetry Editor at Chatto + Windus. He is now Professor of Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia. He is a member of the Arts Council of England and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. Andrew Motion is the author of eight books of poems, of four biographies, including the authorized life of Philip Larkin, and of critical studies of Larkin and Edward Thomas. He has been the recipient of the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize, the Somerset Maugham Award, the Dylan Thomas Award and the Whitbread Prize for Biography. Andrew Motion was appointed Poet Laureate in May 1999. He lives in London with his wife and their three children.