Book of the Week: The Valley Press Anthology of Yorkshire Poetry

This anthology, featuring the likes of Carol Ann Duffy and Ian McMillan, pays homage to Yorkshire, the region often hailed as the home of English poetry. 

The poems and poets included prove to be as diverse as the county itself, acknowledging more than just the picturesque yet dangerous landscape, writing too about the urban. The poems comment on how the wild expanses of open land have been tamed and changed by man in the past few centuries, to the varied county they now know and love.  

For many of the poets in this anthology, Yorkshire is home; where they were born, raised, or still live. As a result, the poems are a very personal response to a part of Britain that they feel particularly close to, revealing an often raw emotion in their poetry. Far from the praises of the wild, unruly landscape of the poets of the past, this anthology considers the people in this modern and changing landscape and their relationships with one another and with nature. 

The train’s too fast for catching names,
though –stone must play a part, and –field.
The bridges have a solid, four-square set
about their jaws, and mortar sitting proud-
gritty assurance that they’re built to last.
-‘Heading North’ by D A Prince

You can buy it here.