Anna Robinson looks at a recent anthology of poems about historical events and considers what we can learn from poetry about ways of exploring the past.
history
What exactly is the essence of Belgium? Far harder to pin down than French chic or English sang-froid, the nation’s uneasy mix of Walloon and Flemish, surreal and down-to-earth, all miraculously held together, is perfectly encapsulated by the Atomium – a giant, futuristic structure on the northern edge of Brussels.
Chris Beckett is enthusiastic about poetry’s potential for exploring and explaining family history and cultural roots – and finds examples in recent collections by Nancy Mattson and Anne Ryland
Paul McLoughlin reviews a collection set in the 1930s which recreates a lost age that was both golden and flawed.
Norbert Hirschhorn reflects on a poetry and prose memoir that gives an inside view of the National Health Service at a time when it may be about to change forever.
Thomas Ovans uses the internet to solve mysteries round an air crash fifty years ago … and also uncovers some more recent concerns
Jennifer Wallace has used some scraps of historical fact and a good deal of lively imagination to build her new novel set in 18th century London
By Michael Bartholomew-Biggs • authors, books, history, year 2015 0