“Blasts of Language”: Changes in Oral Poetics in Britain Since 1965

• Issue: Volume 21, Number 1
• Author(s): Nicky Marsh, Peter Middleton, Victoria Sheppard
• Article: View PDF | Download PDF
• Citation: http://journal.oraltradition.org/issues/21i/marsh_middleton_sheppard

Abstract

This article examines how oral performances of poetry have proliferated over the past forty years to become an essential part of the writing and distribution of poetry in the UK. Our analysis of this phenomenon involves historical research and suggests new ways of looking at the construction of poetic meaning. We draw on interviews with practitioners from diverse poetry communities in considering how performance challenges the exclusive emphasis on the silent, printed text in existing histories of English language poetry.