The Privatisation of Poetry

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In the last forty years large sections of British economic life have been moved out of common ownership into private hands, rationed by price or simply closed down. The democratic process is blocked by inequality, authoritarianism, deceit and a narrow ideological consensus. British cultural life is blocked by the values of big business and show business.

The poetry scene is an atomised, unwelcoming and unfriendly place whose inaccessibility is hardly disguised by ritual declarations about diversity and inclusion. Conversations about poetry are replaced by conversations about poets, discussions of tradition by accusations of plagiarism, and the language of literary criticism by the language of hyperbolic press-releases promoting corporate prizes and celebrity book-festivals.

The Privatisation of Poetry brings together essays and reviews first published in books and magazines including The London Magazine, The Morning Star, The New Statesman, The North, PN Review, Scratch, and Thumbscrew.