Abstract
Since the lost labour struggles of the mid-1980s, (working-class) poets like Carol Ann Duffy and Simon Armitage have progressively asserted their themes across the social strata. Hence, four of their poems are put to closer scrutiny. Especially Armitage’s verse mirrors a tendency in contemporary working-class poetry – frequently located in the North and the Midlands – to reflect on endangered traditions, with no small amount of nostalgia. Yet, its issues – solidarity, equality and historical consciousness – have also been taken up by black and female lyricists. Consequently, the poetry of the new working classes includes the concerns of all disadvantaged people of England (and the world).
Subject
Literature and Literary Theory,Linguistics and Language,Language and Linguistics
Reference37 articles.
1. Armitage, Simon. 2017. The Unaccompanied. London: Faber & Faber.
2. Beider, Harris. 2015. White Working-Class Voices. Multiculturalism, Communitybuilding and Change. Bristol: Bristol University Press.
3. Barton, Susan. 2005. Working-Class Organisations and Popular Tourism, 1840–1970. Manchester and New York: Manchester University Press.
4. Beagrie, Bob. 2019. Civil Insolencies. Ripon: Smokestack.
5. Bellamy, Martin. 2015. Shipyard Culture. The Art and Literature of Shipbuilding: Poetry. Glasgow: Wordpress Blog. https://shipyardculture.wordpress.com/poetry/