We British: The Poetry of a People

We British: The Poetry of a People
Andrew Marr

‘This book includes some of the greatest of our poetry. I hope that it adds up to a new way of thinking about who we have been, and who we are now.’We British is much more than an anthology. This is a veritable history of Britain, told through the verse of its greatest poets. With the entertaining and enlightening Andrew Marr as our guide, we travel from Saxon settlements to medieval courts, from Shakespeare’s Globe to the battlefields of the Somme, ending up here in the present day.On the way we will meet Middle English ploughmen, Tudor drunks, Scottish farmers, West Country priests, a Warwickshire actor, and many more bards and balladeers from across the British Isles, each adding their own distinct voice to the chorus. From Caedmon to Zephaniah, the poets we meet will paint a powerful portrait of what it means to be British.

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Copyright (#u91e63e02-fa99-5ced-9281-845fa972d908)

4th Estate

An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers

1 London Bridge Street

London SE1 9GF

www.4thEstate.co.uk (http://www.4thestate.co.uk)

First published in Great Britain by 4th Estate 2015

Text © Andrew Marr 2015

Cover image © ‘Willow Bough’ wallpaper design, 1887, Morris, William (1834–96)/Private Collection/Bridgeman Images

Andrew Marr asserts his moral right to

be identified as the author of this work

A catalogue record for this book is

available from the British Library

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Source ISBN: 9780008130893

Ebook Edition © October 2015 ISBN: 9780008130916

Version: 2016-07-18

Contents

Cover (#u947e0f36-059c-5fb3-ad03-c4bc378580cc)

Title Page (#ulink_1ffd8f53-7083-5b9b-a2cd-38b9067ca971)

Copyright (#ulink_7afbe54b-0edc-5d6e-b1c8-065e4ebd517a)

Dedication (#ulink_6ed46105-3f1d-56ce-8bc1-b92a50383310)

Introduction (#ulink_488668a5-78e4-5dbf-8d18-8ab34168bb5a)

1 The Earliest English Poetry (#ulink_f4f6fb81-d72d-5581-b78f-c0aa989fd0df)

2 Knights in Green Satin (#ulink_ce6891d4-f24c-5919-8f54-a389765dd24b)

3 Fanatics and Courtiers (#ulink_1bd3eefa-1af0-52c0-8970-cc65c2eb370f)

4 England’s Miracle (#ulink_37b0dda3-aa4a-5467-9a7f-d716d2e38c5f)

5 Beyond the Nymphs and Swains: Renaissance Realities (#ulink_c54d9cf2-52a6-564d-9cd4-fe6e665487dc)

6 Nothing Left But Laughter? Britain’s Mullahs Confront the Problem of Pleasure (#litres_trial_promo)

7 The Restoration of What? Satire, Science and Cynicism, as Political Britain is Born (#litres_trial_promo)

8 The Age of Reason. And Slavery, and Filth, and So On (#litres_trial_promo)

9 The Revolution (#litres_trial_promo)

10 Romantic Agonies (#litres_trial_promo)

11 The British Age (#litres_trial_promo)

12 Plush, Mush and a Handful of Titans (#litres_trial_promo)

13 The Poets of More Than One War (#litres_trial_promo)

14 How Modern Were the Modernists? (#litres_trial_promo)

15 Lefties and Righties: Outrage and Laughter in Britain Between the Wars (#litres_trial_promo)

16 Revolt Against the Metropolis: Britain in the 1940s and 50s (#litres_trial_promo)

17 The Age of Larkin (#litres_trial_promo)

18 Fresh Freshness (#litres_trial_promo)

19 Celts, Britons and Their Friends: Modern British Poetry Furth of England (#litres_trial_promo)

20 Here Comes Everybody: The British and Poetry Now (#litres_trial_promo)

Acknowledgements (#litres_trial_promo)

Index of Poets (#litres_trial_promo)

Also by Andrew Marr (#litres_trial_promo)

About the Publisher (#litres_trial_promo)