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Paper Aeroplane: Selected Poems 1989-2014
1st edn 1st printing signed by author on title page. 8vo. Original gilt lettered black cloth (Fine), dustwrapper (Fine in protective cover, not price clipped). Pp. 232 (no other inscriptions).
240 pages, Hardcover
First published September 2, 2014
About the author
Simon Armitage
131 books340 followersSimon Armitage, whose The Shout was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, has published ten volumes of poetry and has received numerous honors for his work. He was appointed UK Poet Laureate in 2019
Armitage's poetry collections include Book of Matches (1993) and The Dead Sea Poems (1995). He has written two novels, Little Green Man (2001) and The White Stuff (2004), as well as All Points North (1998), a collection of essays on the north of England. He has produced a dramatised version of Homer's Odyssey and a collection of poetry entitled Tyrannosaurus Rex Versus The Corduroy Kid (which was shortlisted for the TS Eliot Prize), both of which were published in July 2006. Many of Armitage's poems appear in the AQA (Assessment and Qualifications Alliance) GCSE syllabus for English Literature in the United Kingdom. These include "Homecoming", "November", "Kid", "Hitcher", and a selection of poems from Book of Matches, most notably of these "Mother any distance...". His writing is characterised by a dry Yorkshire wit combined with "an accessible, realist style and critical seriousness."
Armitage's poetry collections include Book of Matches (1993) and The Dead Sea Poems (1995). He has written two novels, Little Green Man (2001) and The White Stuff (2004), as well as All Points North (1998), a collection of essays on the north of England. He has produced a dramatised version of Homer's Odyssey and a collection of poetry entitled Tyrannosaurus Rex Versus The Corduroy Kid (which was shortlisted for the TS Eliot Prize), both of which were published in July 2006. Many of Armitage's poems appear in the AQA (Assessment and Qualifications Alliance) GCSE syllabus for English Literature in the United Kingdom. These include "Homecoming", "November", "Kid", "Hitcher", and a selection of poems from Book of Matches, most notably of these "Mother any distance...". His writing is characterised by a dry Yorkshire wit combined with "an accessible, realist style and critical seriousness."
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 55 reviews
April 22, 2022
Always we are moving away.
In the tunnel we test the echo of
the engine and check our haircuts in the
rain-spattered quarter-light. Someday, something
will give. When the sun comes up tomorrow
it will dawn on us. But for now we shine
like the stars we understand...
***
Outside we watch the evening, failing again, and we let it happen. We can say nothing.
Sometimes the sun spangles and we feel alive. One thing we have to get, John, out of this life.
***
We studied the view as if we owned it;
noted each change, and condoned it.
...
For what we have, or had, we are grateful.
To say otherwise
would be bitterness
and we know better than to surrender.
***
We idle now on waiting lists, and dream
of runways, level crossings, traffic queues;
waiting to come clean,
to break the news
of how we live, of what we have seen,
of how it leaves us, and what that proves.
A light goes green
but nobody moves.
***
The sun will have its day,
its weeks, months,
years.
Fine.
But just for once, for me,
dig deep, think twice, be otherwise, be
someone else this time.
Mine.
In the tunnel we test the echo of
the engine and check our haircuts in the
rain-spattered quarter-light. Someday, something
will give. When the sun comes up tomorrow
it will dawn on us. But for now we shine
like the stars we understand...
***
Outside we watch the evening, failing again, and we let it happen. We can say nothing.
Sometimes the sun spangles and we feel alive. One thing we have to get, John, out of this life.
***
We studied the view as if we owned it;
noted each change, and condoned it.
...
For what we have, or had, we are grateful.
To say otherwise
would be bitterness
and we know better than to surrender.
***
We idle now on waiting lists, and dream
of runways, level crossings, traffic queues;
waiting to come clean,
to break the news
of how we live, of what we have seen,
of how it leaves us, and what that proves.
A light goes green
but nobody moves.
***
The sun will have its day,
its weeks, months,
years.
Fine.
But just for once, for me,
dig deep, think twice, be otherwise, be
someone else this time.
Mine.
June 1, 2024
When I see a Selected Poems by Heaney, Hughes or Harrison I feel they've always been there. When I see this, the second Selected Poems from a poet whose career started when I was an eight year old, that feeling isn't there. A unique kind of buzz is, however.
Armitage actually saw something of the real world before finding his voice (he was a probation officer for seven years). Although interested in poems that want to crack the code for the Self, the Cosmos etc. he prefers poems that tell a story. He doesn’t think the more unreadable a poem is, the better it is. Unlike many modern poets, he is not just another product dropped off the Oxbridge Assembly Line.
The volume punches its weight. Excepts from Armitage’s growing list of translations are included for the first time alongside work that has previously appeared in limited editions. Armitage has never wanted for versatility but the whole is a pleasing reminder of how many plates he can spin.
I made a mental note of all the poems I hoped to see and tallied up how many did. Long-time favourites like 'It Ain't What You Do, It's What It Does To You', 'Great Sporting Moments: The Treble', 'The Two of Us', 'The Tyre', 'I Say I Say I Say' and 'Poem' (from Kid) all re-appear. So does 'To His Lost Lover' - which still strikes me as Armitage's best poem.
Surprisingly gems like 'Lines Thought to Have Been Written on the Eve of the Execution of a Warrant for His Arrest' and 'To Poverty' aren't here, which is a pity. I would loved to have seen more poems from his first collection, such as 'The Night Shift', 'Gone', 'Ten Pence Story' and 'Somewhere Along the Line'.
Like a singer varying the set list between gigs, Armitage has tweaked his selections. Of the poems from Zoom! 'And You Know What Thought Did' has been dropped, while two more - 'Phenomenology' and 'Don't Blink' - have been added. With the exception of Moon Country (which now contributes two poems rather than one), the number of poems taken from the later volumes has been cut, including the long poem ‘Five Eleven Ninety-Nine.’
While there are some first-rate poems like ‘All For One', 'Birthday' and 'The Shout' the quality control wobbles a little hereafter. 'The Spelling' is moving, but the poems from Tyrannosaurus Rex Versus the Corduroy Kid tens to lack the power and quotability of the earlier work. I can appreciate a writer trying to do something different and break the mould but the 'poems' from Seeing Stars don’t work at all.
Thankfully things not only pick up from here, they soar. The excerpts from 'Black Roses - The Killing of Sophie Lancaster' are crisp, cinematic and urgent. The selections from In Memory of Water are superb. Armitage is known for his medium-sized poems that tell a story, often a comic one. But it's interesting to note how when he brings out his two-line stanzas all excess is dropped and tenderness dominates. Within the flinty joker there's a lyric poet trying to get out. After cameo appearances in 'To His Lost Lover', it's nice to see him grabbing the centre stage in beautiful poems like 'Snow'. I hope to see even more of him next time around.
Armitage actually saw something of the real world before finding his voice (he was a probation officer for seven years). Although interested in poems that want to crack the code for the Self, the Cosmos etc. he prefers poems that tell a story. He doesn’t think the more unreadable a poem is, the better it is. Unlike many modern poets, he is not just another product dropped off the Oxbridge Assembly Line.
The volume punches its weight. Excepts from Armitage’s growing list of translations are included for the first time alongside work that has previously appeared in limited editions. Armitage has never wanted for versatility but the whole is a pleasing reminder of how many plates he can spin.
I made a mental note of all the poems I hoped to see and tallied up how many did. Long-time favourites like 'It Ain't What You Do, It's What It Does To You', 'Great Sporting Moments: The Treble', 'The Two of Us', 'The Tyre', 'I Say I Say I Say' and 'Poem' (from Kid) all re-appear. So does 'To His Lost Lover' - which still strikes me as Armitage's best poem.
Surprisingly gems like 'Lines Thought to Have Been Written on the Eve of the Execution of a Warrant for His Arrest' and 'To Poverty' aren't here, which is a pity. I would loved to have seen more poems from his first collection, such as 'The Night Shift', 'Gone', 'Ten Pence Story' and 'Somewhere Along the Line'.
Like a singer varying the set list between gigs, Armitage has tweaked his selections. Of the poems from Zoom! 'And You Know What Thought Did' has been dropped, while two more - 'Phenomenology' and 'Don't Blink' - have been added. With the exception of Moon Country (which now contributes two poems rather than one), the number of poems taken from the later volumes has been cut, including the long poem ‘Five Eleven Ninety-Nine.’
While there are some first-rate poems like ‘All For One', 'Birthday' and 'The Shout' the quality control wobbles a little hereafter. 'The Spelling' is moving, but the poems from Tyrannosaurus Rex Versus the Corduroy Kid tens to lack the power and quotability of the earlier work. I can appreciate a writer trying to do something different and break the mould but the 'poems' from Seeing Stars don’t work at all.
Thankfully things not only pick up from here, they soar. The excerpts from 'Black Roses - The Killing of Sophie Lancaster' are crisp, cinematic and urgent. The selections from In Memory of Water are superb. Armitage is known for his medium-sized poems that tell a story, often a comic one. But it's interesting to note how when he brings out his two-line stanzas all excess is dropped and tenderness dominates. Within the flinty joker there's a lyric poet trying to get out. After cameo appearances in 'To His Lost Lover', it's nice to see him grabbing the centre stage in beautiful poems like 'Snow'. I hope to see even more of him next time around.
March 4, 2015
Enjoyable collection to dip in and out of. Armitage is certainly a talented poet and he experiments with various forms.
I think the poem entitled 'Poundland' was my favourite. Here's a brief excerpt:
…beyond the hazard cone where serious chutney spillage had occurred.
Then emerged souls: the duty manager with a face like Doncaster,
mumbling, “For so much, what shall we give in return?”
…
In strangled words I managed,
“How art thou come to these shady channels, into hell’s ravine?”
…
And paid forthwith, then broke surface
and breathed extraordinary daylight into starved lungs,
steered for home through precincts and parks scalded by polar winds,
laden with whatnot, lightened of golden quids.
Quite an accurate representation of the stresses of shopping in Poundland!
I think the poem entitled 'Poundland' was my favourite. Here's a brief excerpt:
…beyond the hazard cone where serious chutney spillage had occurred.
Then emerged souls: the duty manager with a face like Doncaster,
mumbling, “For so much, what shall we give in return?”
…
In strangled words I managed,
“How art thou come to these shady channels, into hell’s ravine?”
…
And paid forthwith, then broke surface
and breathed extraordinary daylight into starved lungs,
steered for home through precincts and parks scalded by polar winds,
laden with whatnot, lightened of golden quids.
Quite an accurate representation of the stresses of shopping in Poundland!
January 15, 2019
Update: 3 stars.
To be fair there were some really lovely poems in this collection that I thoroughly enjoyed. It was more to do with frequently understanding what was the deeper meanings behind these poems, which I sadly was unable to do a lot of them. I have to be honest I frequently felt quite lost over the meaning and themes, so it made a real slog to get through the whole collection in time for my uni quiz. I look forward to hearing the lecture on "Paper Aeroplane" from Dr. Indy though!
However, some that I liked, or thought were interesting were: The Civilians, Zoom!, Gooseberry Season, I Say I Say I Say, and Before You Cut Loose, The Two of Us, Song of the West Men, and Listen Here, The Strid, the Kid, The Straight and Narrow, Leaves on the Line, Evening, Sloth, excerpts from Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, excerpts from Out of the Blue, the Parting Shot, an Accommodation, I'll Be There to Love and Comfort You, the Accident, Aviators, Beyond Huddersfield, excerpts from Black Roses: The Killing of Sophie Lancaster, excerpts from The Death of King Arthur, excerpts from In Memory of Water (Stanza stones) -- this may have been my favourite part of the collection actually!, and finally Harmonium and Paper Aeroplane were good too. I also enjoyed "Thank You For Waiting" - one of Armitage's unpublished poems we read and analysed in class.
So actually overall, there were quite a few that I quite liked, but overall the reading experience was a little bit honestly boring and depressing. 2.5 stars, though after more study I might give it a 3-star rating. We'll see.
To be fair there were some really lovely poems in this collection that I thoroughly enjoyed. It was more to do with frequently understanding what was the deeper meanings behind these poems, which I sadly was unable to do a lot of them. I have to be honest I frequently felt quite lost over the meaning and themes, so it made a real slog to get through the whole collection in time for my uni quiz. I look forward to hearing the lecture on "Paper Aeroplane" from Dr. Indy though!
However, some that I liked, or thought were interesting were: The Civilians, Zoom!, Gooseberry Season, I Say I Say I Say, and Before You Cut Loose, The Two of Us, Song of the West Men, and Listen Here, The Strid, the Kid, The Straight and Narrow, Leaves on the Line, Evening, Sloth, excerpts from Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, excerpts from Out of the Blue, the Parting Shot, an Accommodation, I'll Be There to Love and Comfort You, the Accident, Aviators, Beyond Huddersfield, excerpts from Black Roses: The Killing of Sophie Lancaster, excerpts from The Death of King Arthur, excerpts from In Memory of Water (Stanza stones) -- this may have been my favourite part of the collection actually!, and finally Harmonium and Paper Aeroplane were good too. I also enjoyed "Thank You For Waiting" - one of Armitage's unpublished poems we read and analysed in class.
So actually overall, there were quite a few that I quite liked, but overall the reading experience was a little bit honestly boring and depressing. 2.5 stars, though after more study I might give it a 3-star rating. We'll see.
January 31, 2015
Having already analysed many of the poems in depth, I decided to read the collection as a whole in one sitting, and man was that a good idea. Armitage has the ability to articulate feelings that everyone else struggles to describe, and his experimental use of form and language always blows me away. The Killing of Sophie Lancaster is an especially heart-wrenching piece, and Harmonium, the second to last poem of the collection, absolutely broke me. The only pieces that I'm not a big fan of are his translations of middle English tales, but perhaps that is more due to my disinterest in the period and style than any fault of his. Overall a brilliant collection, and an excellent introduction to one of the greatest contemporary poets in Britain.
July 24, 2024
Few poets possess such imaginative range and restless appetite for meaning. Fewer still create such a body of work whilst maintaining a laconic grin at the world. Whether abstract or folkloric, documentary or fantasy, Armitage’s poetry rips across the page, scouring the reader’s mind and replacing dull sight with bold, kaleidoscopic hallucinations. Except, these illusions are honest in their reflections on the humble, the historic and the heroic. Magic yore for the modern world and Lord knows, we need more, much more to lose ourselves within. Bravo Simon!
June 24, 2016
Collection of poems so far.
If you can listen to him reading them rather than read as they are better live (so to speak)
What armitage does so well is he writes work that is both current yet timeless.
Not sure what others think but i think armitage captures an emotional truth that few others have.
July 20, 2016
An absorbing introduction to the brilliant Simin Armitage. His poems speak of nature, of emotions, tragedies and human existence. They are witty, moving, heart-wrenching - sometimes at the same time.
There are also excerpts from his translations or dramatisations of the Odyssey, the Death of King Arthur and Gawain and the Green Knight.
This makes me want to read every book in this anthology.
There are also excerpts from his translations or dramatisations of the Odyssey, the Death of King Arthur and Gawain and the Green Knight.
This makes me want to read every book in this anthology.
November 6, 2015
Full disclosure: I’m inept at poetry, uncertain if I’m being conned by the haphazard line breaks that may or may not impart additional meaning, especially ignorant of meter and whether it’s being employed in any sort of consistent fashion. I can’t even claim to know it when I see it, as there’s a good deal of doggerel out there that looks real enough. Is poetry about the sound of language, or is it a thing shaped by language expertly wrought? Is it about things that lie beyond or within daily experience, or is it about things that are already of a poetic and elevated nature? Are stanzas like paragraphs? Why then do so many sentences break off in one stanza then flow into another?
As a poetry naïf, my only criteria are honesty, concision, and a rigorous use of language. Honesty is that Hemingwayesque appeal to what is real and earned, where the writer has evoked in the reader some sense of the rightness of things without having hit him over the head with it. Concision is obvious enough, as poems are short, thus must condense things to their essentials, whether representing things with apt description or evocative language. And this concision is achieved with rigorous use of language, where words often do double duty, denoting and connoting simultaneously.
Paper Aeroplane is a selection of poetry from 19 different volumes of Armitage’s poetry—with selections from three translations he’s made of the Odyssey, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, and Le Morte d’Arthur—all spanning the 25 years since his first volume Zoom! appeared in 1989. I had never read any of Armitage's work before, and it was recommended. I read the book in the course of four or five days, reading no more than 10 poems at a time; I then re-read the book over the next two days, now able to recall individual poems and look over the expanse of the work more easily. I found it an interesting reading experience, requiring more attention and focus than reading almost any sort of novel.
What most characterizes Armitage’s free-flowing poetry is its vernacular straightforwardness. Like the conscious common-man poetry of William Carlos Williams, Armitage’s idiom is that of the Yorkshire man, and his personae speak of things within his ken in a language that will not put on airs. The first poem in the volume, “The Joke,” is a story told by the narrator, grabbing us by the collar, asking, “heard the one about the guy from Heaton Mersey?” which goes on to recount the Heaton Mersey man’s freezing death, how that became occasion for those at the pub to discuss who was to be credited for finding the car that had been so thoroughly coated and hidden by snow. The directness of language prevails even when emotion is broached, as in “Harmonium,” where the narrator, collecting an old organ from a church, is made to consider that the rector or minister who helps him will be in the next box the narrator lugs from the church. There’s no good response to the rector’s pitiable observation of mortality, and the narrator, “being me, then mouth in reply / some shallower sorry phrase or word / too starved of breath to make itself heard.”
Armitage in economical fashion is able to set a scene and sketch a story, a vignette, or a portrait. There is immediacy and particularity. While all of his poetry sums up an English “Northerness,” the poems themselves elaborate a particularity that is only itself, a poem about this or that. “Horses, M62”—which describes how a dozen horses have left their pasture to mingle with the idling cars on the adjacent three-lane highway—suggests contrasts and even biblical portent, but it remains a picture of a unique and isolated moment filled with real horses. “The writhing mat of its hide / pressed on the glass— / a tank of worms— / a flank / of actual horse…”
In “The Strid” the male narrator speaks from beyond the grave, as perhaps a specter haunting the moors, much in the tradition of old northern ballads of forlorn maidens, but his idiom is contemporary and the voice is querulous. The doomed groom cannot fathom how he and his bride attempted to cross the wide strid in their wedding clothes, and now they lie before the coroner, swollen, “dead to the world, husband and wife.” Another poem that might serve as cautionary tale, “Evening” speaks in the second person to the reader, how you at age 12 or 13 wander from the house, taking in the sights and feel of the wood and streams close by, then as day slips by and evening prods you to return home, you discover yourself a middle-aged man with a family. “You’re sorry. You thought / it was early. How did it get so late?”
Armitage is able to conjure a spectrum of emotion and attitude, all in voices that speak in a natural manner. There are poems that soar into hyperbole, contrast, and metaphor, but there is a homely image that lies at their center. There are poems that give his personae different selves that act independently of the narrator, which illustrate the common-place frustration of bodies and minds that cannot behave. There are poems that exhort with personae that declaim like false prophets to audiences (surrogate readers), and it is for us to separate the wheat from the chaff, to understand the narrator’s need to so boldly stand in the pulpit. There are poems that traffic in rhythmic phrasing, some using repeated refrain, the message as much in these devices as the words. There are the prose poems from his collection Seeing Stars (2010), which are more surreal than most, but nonetheless keep themselves anchored with a plain-spoken voice, dialect, and allusions to the realities of a Yorkshire man’s existence.
And finally, there is the eponymous poem “Paper Aeroplane,” which like one or two others hints at the mysterious process of writing poetry. In this last, the magic lies in the blank pages of the book the narrator’s seatmate is reading on an airplane: these blank pages, the narrator is told, are his best work yet…
As a poetry naïf, my only criteria are honesty, concision, and a rigorous use of language. Honesty is that Hemingwayesque appeal to what is real and earned, where the writer has evoked in the reader some sense of the rightness of things without having hit him over the head with it. Concision is obvious enough, as poems are short, thus must condense things to their essentials, whether representing things with apt description or evocative language. And this concision is achieved with rigorous use of language, where words often do double duty, denoting and connoting simultaneously.
Paper Aeroplane is a selection of poetry from 19 different volumes of Armitage’s poetry—with selections from three translations he’s made of the Odyssey, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, and Le Morte d’Arthur—all spanning the 25 years since his first volume Zoom! appeared in 1989. I had never read any of Armitage's work before, and it was recommended. I read the book in the course of four or five days, reading no more than 10 poems at a time; I then re-read the book over the next two days, now able to recall individual poems and look over the expanse of the work more easily. I found it an interesting reading experience, requiring more attention and focus than reading almost any sort of novel.
What most characterizes Armitage’s free-flowing poetry is its vernacular straightforwardness. Like the conscious common-man poetry of William Carlos Williams, Armitage’s idiom is that of the Yorkshire man, and his personae speak of things within his ken in a language that will not put on airs. The first poem in the volume, “The Joke,” is a story told by the narrator, grabbing us by the collar, asking, “heard the one about the guy from Heaton Mersey?” which goes on to recount the Heaton Mersey man’s freezing death, how that became occasion for those at the pub to discuss who was to be credited for finding the car that had been so thoroughly coated and hidden by snow. The directness of language prevails even when emotion is broached, as in “Harmonium,” where the narrator, collecting an old organ from a church, is made to consider that the rector or minister who helps him will be in the next box the narrator lugs from the church. There’s no good response to the rector’s pitiable observation of mortality, and the narrator, “being me, then mouth in reply / some shallower sorry phrase or word / too starved of breath to make itself heard.”
Armitage in economical fashion is able to set a scene and sketch a story, a vignette, or a portrait. There is immediacy and particularity. While all of his poetry sums up an English “Northerness,” the poems themselves elaborate a particularity that is only itself, a poem about this or that. “Horses, M62”—which describes how a dozen horses have left their pasture to mingle with the idling cars on the adjacent three-lane highway—suggests contrasts and even biblical portent, but it remains a picture of a unique and isolated moment filled with real horses. “The writhing mat of its hide / pressed on the glass— / a tank of worms— / a flank / of actual horse…”
In “The Strid” the male narrator speaks from beyond the grave, as perhaps a specter haunting the moors, much in the tradition of old northern ballads of forlorn maidens, but his idiom is contemporary and the voice is querulous. The doomed groom cannot fathom how he and his bride attempted to cross the wide strid in their wedding clothes, and now they lie before the coroner, swollen, “dead to the world, husband and wife.” Another poem that might serve as cautionary tale, “Evening” speaks in the second person to the reader, how you at age 12 or 13 wander from the house, taking in the sights and feel of the wood and streams close by, then as day slips by and evening prods you to return home, you discover yourself a middle-aged man with a family. “You’re sorry. You thought / it was early. How did it get so late?”
Armitage is able to conjure a spectrum of emotion and attitude, all in voices that speak in a natural manner. There are poems that soar into hyperbole, contrast, and metaphor, but there is a homely image that lies at their center. There are poems that give his personae different selves that act independently of the narrator, which illustrate the common-place frustration of bodies and minds that cannot behave. There are poems that exhort with personae that declaim like false prophets to audiences (surrogate readers), and it is for us to separate the wheat from the chaff, to understand the narrator’s need to so boldly stand in the pulpit. There are poems that traffic in rhythmic phrasing, some using repeated refrain, the message as much in these devices as the words. There are the prose poems from his collection Seeing Stars (2010), which are more surreal than most, but nonetheless keep themselves anchored with a plain-spoken voice, dialect, and allusions to the realities of a Yorkshire man’s existence.
And finally, there is the eponymous poem “Paper Aeroplane,” which like one or two others hints at the mysterious process of writing poetry. In this last, the magic lies in the blank pages of the book the narrator’s seatmate is reading on an airplane: these blank pages, the narrator is told, are his best work yet…
May 21, 2024
One of my fave British poets. Poem, November, The Catch, Kid, To His Lost Lover, Homecoming, The Parting Shot, All For One, just some of the poems that make this such a great collection.
September 25, 2022
I've read many collations on Simon Armitage's work throughout my life. From the age of about 16 until now, his poetry has been something of a comfort blanket to me. Always there, always earthy, always able to eek out a sort of homely eeriness inspired by what's immediately around. And while the poetry I write is mostly inspired by urban settings, Armitage's ability to transform his sprawling Yorkshire homeland into a sometimes cosy, sometimes claustrophobic headspace is inspiring.
I'd read many of the poems in Paper Aeroplane before, but when pulled together they form a sort of narrative. Not so much an evolution as a composite way into Armitage's head. But one of the most pleasant surprises was how much these poems relied on humour. If his work has ever come across as stuffy or *too* quietly English, then that's blown out of the water here.
The poems are frequently shocking, but the lines flit between lowest-common-denominator wit and excavation and genuine respect. The best examples are 'You're Beautiful', where he paints himself as a hateful cretin in the shadow of a lover's goodness, and 'Brassneck', where the horrors of the Hillsborough disaster are used to provide depth to two thieves.
I'm not sure is the best place to start with Armitage. I'd say 2019's Sandettie Light Vessel Automatic is the greatest way into his cadence. But once/if you're in, there's no way this will disappoint.
I'd read many of the poems in Paper Aeroplane before, but when pulled together they form a sort of narrative. Not so much an evolution as a composite way into Armitage's head. But one of the most pleasant surprises was how much these poems relied on humour. If his work has ever come across as stuffy or *too* quietly English, then that's blown out of the water here.
The poems are frequently shocking, but the lines flit between lowest-common-denominator wit and excavation and genuine respect. The best examples are 'You're Beautiful', where he paints himself as a hateful cretin in the shadow of a lover's goodness, and 'Brassneck', where the horrors of the Hillsborough disaster are used to provide depth to two thieves.
I'm not sure is the best place to start with Armitage. I'd say 2019's Sandettie Light Vessel Automatic is the greatest way into his cadence. But once/if you're in, there's no way this will disappoint.
May 12, 2016
I've not read Armitage before, but saw this collection at my local Library and though I'd give it a go.
I enjoyed this collection - the poems are accessible and readable but never facile or superficial. It's difficult to single out favourite poems but I enjoyed "Man with a Golf Ball Heart" and the selections from "Seeing Stars".
I will certainly read some of the full collections.
I enjoyed this collection - the poems are accessible and readable but never facile or superficial. It's difficult to single out favourite poems but I enjoyed "Man with a Golf Ball Heart" and the selections from "Seeing Stars".
I will certainly read some of the full collections.
July 7, 2015
I'd have just bought this if I'd seen it before Collected Poems, but there's enough variation from the half of this book that covers the same period that I don't mind too much.
Not really sure what to get next.
Not really sure what to get next.
Shelved as 'dnf'
September 13, 2015Thank god my friend told me we didn't need to read this for the quiz because I was torturing myself trying to read this. Do not recommend if you don't like poems. I guess I liked I Say I Say I Say but honestly I'm not a poem person so trying to read 200+ page poem collection was the worst.
July 30, 2019
Read for uni. Pretty blokey sometime, but real smart structure and imagery.
February 28, 2021
Favourite poems:
- Kid
- About His Person
- Mother, Any Distance
- Killing Time #2
- You’re Beautiful
- Out Of The Blue
- Black Roses: The Killing of Sophie Lancaster
- Kid
- About His Person
- Mother, Any Distance
- Killing Time #2
- You’re Beautiful
- Out Of The Blue
- Black Roses: The Killing of Sophie Lancaster
March 24, 2020
Paper Aeroplane: Poems 1989-2014 was my first experience of Simon Armitage's work. Assigned as a reading task at uni to a student studying writing but specialising in poetry; I could not have been gladder than to study this collection of poetry.
Written over the years of Armitage's career, this collection of poems captures human experience as a whole; a collection of memories, ideals and anecdotes from varying ages and stages of life combined. With no prior experience of such a current and refined poet, I found Paper Aeroplane a breeze to get into, with themes pertaining to all aspects of everyday life and everything laced with multiple meanings - relatable with such a pleasure. As someone with high standards for poetry, I was awestruck.
Since reading this collection of poetry, I have found a great deal of respect for Armitage's writing and more so for his "How to write Poetry: Checklist" shared on The Guardian, which helped connect some of those dots in regard to his poetry as a whole. I definitely recommend this book for any poetry lovers, regardless of what style you're into - it seems he has a knack for any kind - and more so recommend giving his article a read to help understand his process and, as a result, his work, better. This is a great first-time experience of Armitage's writing/poetry and speaks volumes for his craft and honest voice in all stages of his life. For a collection of this size and consistency to come from such a modern poet, we must all pay our respects to this CBE!
To have a legend like this still living; I could not be happier to be alive.
Written over the years of Armitage's career, this collection of poems captures human experience as a whole; a collection of memories, ideals and anecdotes from varying ages and stages of life combined. With no prior experience of such a current and refined poet, I found Paper Aeroplane a breeze to get into, with themes pertaining to all aspects of everyday life and everything laced with multiple meanings - relatable with such a pleasure. As someone with high standards for poetry, I was awestruck.
Since reading this collection of poetry, I have found a great deal of respect for Armitage's writing and more so for his "How to write Poetry: Checklist" shared on The Guardian, which helped connect some of those dots in regard to his poetry as a whole. I definitely recommend this book for any poetry lovers, regardless of what style you're into - it seems he has a knack for any kind - and more so recommend giving his article a read to help understand his process and, as a result, his work, better. This is a great first-time experience of Armitage's writing/poetry and speaks volumes for his craft and honest voice in all stages of his life. For a collection of this size and consistency to come from such a modern poet, we must all pay our respects to this CBE!
To have a legend like this still living; I could not be happier to be alive.
Read
August 6, 2020A solid collection- full of some absolute gems.
Personal favourites:
- "I am very bothered when I think..." (Book of Matches)
- "Meanwhile, somewhere in the state of Colorado..." (Killing Time)
- The Shout (Universal Home Doctor)
- A Vision (Tyrannosaurus Rex Versus The Corduroy Kid)
- Excerpt from Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
- All of In Memory of Water
- Paper Aeroplane (The Unaccompanied)
Excited to read more of his work in the future, especially his translation of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight in its entirety.
Personal favourites:
- "I am very bothered when I think..." (Book of Matches)
- "Meanwhile, somewhere in the state of Colorado..." (Killing Time)
- The Shout (Universal Home Doctor)
- A Vision (Tyrannosaurus Rex Versus The Corduroy Kid)
- Excerpt from Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
- All of In Memory of Water
- Paper Aeroplane (The Unaccompanied)
Excited to read more of his work in the future, especially his translation of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight in its entirety.
March 6, 2017
Wasn't expecting much from this but very pleasantly surprised.
SA writes in the vernacular but that makes his incursions into the lyrical all the more striking. He doesn't take himself seriously which makes his serious points all the more penetrating. He is witty which makes his poignant moments all the more poignant. Overall very impressive. Pretty much everything that Falling Awake wasn't
SA writes in the vernacular but that makes his incursions into the lyrical all the more striking. He doesn't take himself seriously which makes his serious points all the more penetrating. He is witty which makes his poignant moments all the more poignant. Overall very impressive. Pretty much everything that Falling Awake wasn't
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August 10, 2016I haven't rated because I loathe poetry and my biased review would be unfair to Armitage's work. Had to read for uni this semester and it was a challenge.
April 19, 2018
brilliant. real poetry. possibly the next poets laureate?
August 5, 2018
Look, it wasn’t terrible, but the only reason I read this was for my contemporary literature course. I quite liked the poem ‘The Christening’. I absolutely HATED ‘My Heart’.
October 3, 2019
The language is clear and accessible. Some of the poems are very nicely written and pleasing, not least a selection describing water in its different aspects, as snow, rain, mist, dew, puddle, beck. Many more held striking lines or passages. A few seemed deep and intimate. Several samples from his translations of old English writing (Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the Death of King Arthur) were impressive enough to suggest buying the full work and he exploited that archaic writing style in a very clever parody, included in this book, locating Homer’s Underworld in a modern branch of Poundland. Some poems were disconcerting and even surreal. Some speak from within the mind of a criminal: a pick pocket, a murderer, possibly a psychopath. In several he writes as a soldier.
These poems are not after all entirely clear or accessible; they just seem to be. They work on different levels at the same time and certainly it is worth the effort to investigate them. I could not unravel them without assistance and the internet turns out to be replete with material; lots of people have an opinion and some are pretty negative. Type in ‘Simon Armitage’ and expect to lose whole days reading the results. Biographical information is, as expected, a good start. It really is critical for example to know that he wrote some of his poems using his notes of interviews with prisoners, soldiers and others, often women, in effect giving their authentic voices a fresh avenue of expression through his poetry. One source in particular that I appreciated was just a list of his collaborations with the BBC, of which there are many, just because it established that this is a writer with a heavy workload, taking on challenging and very diverse projects, collaborating with other artists and working to imposed constraints, often producing poetry to be heard – perhaps sung - rather than read, sometimes within a film or a play. That source led me astray to buy and read Black Roses, The Killing of Sophie Lancaster, https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...
which is brief enough but very powerful, and also to discover a YouTube video of Songbirds, which is strong stuff. Both demonstrate a very clear social or even political commitment. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMGt4...
I got most help from another book, Simon Armitage by Ian Gregson; he brings a theoretical framework through which to consider the work critically. The poems respond well to analysis and comparison with other poets; they do not break under scrutiny. Gregson’s book itself, I have to admit, becomes rather dense and lost me in some of its more refined abstractions. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...
This rush to read Armitage, and to read about him, was in preparation for a live reading of his own work, for which I had obtained a golden ticket by good fortune. The main interest at that event came from some remarks he made about his poems as he went along. For example he was told by one reviewer that his book “Seeing Stars” (from which there is a selection in this volume) was not really poetry at all. In reply, Armitage said that poetry can be written in any style whatsoever, and he was therefore quite proud to have discovered a way of writing that could be called ‘not-poetry’ with such confident authority.
It is quite possible and reasonable to read this selection for pleasure and enjoy its diversity; it is far more accessible, more fun and more interesting than the average. It is possible also to explore it in depth, and the poetry is strong enough to withstand even a serious critical analysis. This is essential reading but always enjoyable.
These poems are not after all entirely clear or accessible; they just seem to be. They work on different levels at the same time and certainly it is worth the effort to investigate them. I could not unravel them without assistance and the internet turns out to be replete with material; lots of people have an opinion and some are pretty negative. Type in ‘Simon Armitage’ and expect to lose whole days reading the results. Biographical information is, as expected, a good start. It really is critical for example to know that he wrote some of his poems using his notes of interviews with prisoners, soldiers and others, often women, in effect giving their authentic voices a fresh avenue of expression through his poetry. One source in particular that I appreciated was just a list of his collaborations with the BBC, of which there are many, just because it established that this is a writer with a heavy workload, taking on challenging and very diverse projects, collaborating with other artists and working to imposed constraints, often producing poetry to be heard – perhaps sung - rather than read, sometimes within a film or a play. That source led me astray to buy and read Black Roses, The Killing of Sophie Lancaster, https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...
which is brief enough but very powerful, and also to discover a YouTube video of Songbirds, which is strong stuff. Both demonstrate a very clear social or even political commitment. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMGt4...
I got most help from another book, Simon Armitage by Ian Gregson; he brings a theoretical framework through which to consider the work critically. The poems respond well to analysis and comparison with other poets; they do not break under scrutiny. Gregson’s book itself, I have to admit, becomes rather dense and lost me in some of its more refined abstractions. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...
This rush to read Armitage, and to read about him, was in preparation for a live reading of his own work, for which I had obtained a golden ticket by good fortune. The main interest at that event came from some remarks he made about his poems as he went along. For example he was told by one reviewer that his book “Seeing Stars” (from which there is a selection in this volume) was not really poetry at all. In reply, Armitage said that poetry can be written in any style whatsoever, and he was therefore quite proud to have discovered a way of writing that could be called ‘not-poetry’ with such confident authority.
It is quite possible and reasonable to read this selection for pleasure and enjoy its diversity; it is far more accessible, more fun and more interesting than the average. It is possible also to explore it in depth, and the poetry is strong enough to withstand even a serious critical analysis. This is essential reading but always enjoyable.
November 11, 2023
Having reviewed Armitage's latest book a few months ago and not finding it quite as good as some of the selected poems I've read over the years, I decided to see if I could rekindle my love for this poet by reading his collection of - presumably - his best works.
I wasn't disappointed. I guess the nature of writing very short form pieces is that you write a lot of them over a period of several decades and not all can be the same quality. A recent collection will have hits and also probably a fair amount of misses. But a collected works clears away the chaff and leaves all the best - at least in theory. On the whole, Armitage has done exactly that.
It is telling that certain books - such as Xanadu, Killing Time and Mister Heracles - only get to have one or two poems making the cut of this volume. I don't why more weren't considered but I'd hazard a guess the poet or his editor didn't like them so much. The Universal Home Doctor, by contrast, has ten poems included. It must have been a good one.
Technically, this is a collection of 'selected poems' rather than a 'greatest hits', so we can't say that Armitage has made his selections according to what he thinks are the best. Nevertheless, it is reasonable to infer he thinks these poems are pretty damned hot, even if merely based on his personal favourites. It would be weird to have so famous and loved a poet who is rubbish at working out which are his best.
That said, I must dock him a star - out of spite - for completely missing one of his very best and most provocative of poems: Remains. Much loved and oft studied because of its inclusion in the AQA GCSE poetry anthology, it is the perfect gateway poem for giving young minds a love for this kind of writing. After all, short form poetry is the TikTok of the literary world. It is a puzzle, a game, to work out the meaning; and it is super short so it never gets boring. Perfect for our current generation used to fast information available in their pockets at all times. How could Armitage miss this poem?!
In fairness, it isn't a perfect book. There's still some poems here that I simply don't find engaging. Even in a collected works, it is still possible to have some misses. Some of this will probably just be that a particular poem 'isn't for me', while someone else will think it sublime. But some are just duds, I suspect. Not many though; on the whole, this is a wonderful collection. There's an eclectic mix between forms, styles and levels of seriousness.
I particularly like the selections that Armitage calls 'prose poems'; more usually they would be thought of as flash fiction. I guess the label of 'poem' comes more from the feel of these as there's a mysterious, ethereal quality to all of them; like something you have to figure out for yourself. But I also enjoy the quirky, silly ones like 'To-Do List'. Even here, there's things to mull over. The final word hits you hard and leaves you not so much with the smile you did just have on your face, but a thoughtful reflectiveness instead. It's rather effective.
So then, overall, this is a great collection of poems from an excellent poet, one who well deserves his reputation. They are very British, very down to earth and dealing with themes that affect us all. There's no lofty thoughts here, just quiet reflections on life. Armitage challenges us to embrace ourselves and accept us as frail and human. He comforts us by acknowledging that he's exactly that too. You aren't intimidated by these poems. They're messages from a friend you don't know yet. I wouldn't want my poetry to be any other way.
I wasn't disappointed. I guess the nature of writing very short form pieces is that you write a lot of them over a period of several decades and not all can be the same quality. A recent collection will have hits and also probably a fair amount of misses. But a collected works clears away the chaff and leaves all the best - at least in theory. On the whole, Armitage has done exactly that.
It is telling that certain books - such as Xanadu, Killing Time and Mister Heracles - only get to have one or two poems making the cut of this volume. I don't why more weren't considered but I'd hazard a guess the poet or his editor didn't like them so much. The Universal Home Doctor, by contrast, has ten poems included. It must have been a good one.
Technically, this is a collection of 'selected poems' rather than a 'greatest hits', so we can't say that Armitage has made his selections according to what he thinks are the best. Nevertheless, it is reasonable to infer he thinks these poems are pretty damned hot, even if merely based on his personal favourites. It would be weird to have so famous and loved a poet who is rubbish at working out which are his best.
That said, I must dock him a star - out of spite - for completely missing one of his very best and most provocative of poems: Remains. Much loved and oft studied because of its inclusion in the AQA GCSE poetry anthology, it is the perfect gateway poem for giving young minds a love for this kind of writing. After all, short form poetry is the TikTok of the literary world. It is a puzzle, a game, to work out the meaning; and it is super short so it never gets boring. Perfect for our current generation used to fast information available in their pockets at all times. How could Armitage miss this poem?!
In fairness, it isn't a perfect book. There's still some poems here that I simply don't find engaging. Even in a collected works, it is still possible to have some misses. Some of this will probably just be that a particular poem 'isn't for me', while someone else will think it sublime. But some are just duds, I suspect. Not many though; on the whole, this is a wonderful collection. There's an eclectic mix between forms, styles and levels of seriousness.
I particularly like the selections that Armitage calls 'prose poems'; more usually they would be thought of as flash fiction. I guess the label of 'poem' comes more from the feel of these as there's a mysterious, ethereal quality to all of them; like something you have to figure out for yourself. But I also enjoy the quirky, silly ones like 'To-Do List'. Even here, there's things to mull over. The final word hits you hard and leaves you not so much with the smile you did just have on your face, but a thoughtful reflectiveness instead. It's rather effective.
So then, overall, this is a great collection of poems from an excellent poet, one who well deserves his reputation. They are very British, very down to earth and dealing with themes that affect us all. There's no lofty thoughts here, just quiet reflections on life. Armitage challenges us to embrace ourselves and accept us as frail and human. He comforts us by acknowledging that he's exactly that too. You aren't intimidated by these poems. They're messages from a friend you don't know yet. I wouldn't want my poetry to be any other way.
February 6, 2020
Before reading this I was not really aware of the work of Simon Armitage. I knew he was Poet Laureate, but nothing of his work.
In fact I have recently been reading quite a lot of poetry, not writing it, just reading. Alongside this edition I have been inching my way through 'The Poetry Pharmacy', which has been sitting around by my chair for an absolute age.
I have enjoyed the experience and I'm sure it makes me calmer. Mind you, some would say it's difficult to tell, as I rarely get very engaged about matters.
I enjoyed this collection. There was plenty of humour contained within the various verses collected, and a great deal of it aimed at himself. There was also a lot of sensitive writing.
As ever, I much prefer it when the verse does not contain profundities,. I rarely think this necessary or that it adds to the sentiments. Phrases like, 'A car clears its throat in the lane', I very much warm to. There's a great deal of that use of language in his verse, and I find myself deliberately reading it slowly, and re-reading lines, so that I can absorb the full meaning. Occasionally I am left perplexed at what is intended.
So here is a volume I recommend, poetry lover or not. It's great to dip into at any time
In fact I have recently been reading quite a lot of poetry, not writing it, just reading. Alongside this edition I have been inching my way through 'The Poetry Pharmacy', which has been sitting around by my chair for an absolute age.
I have enjoyed the experience and I'm sure it makes me calmer. Mind you, some would say it's difficult to tell, as I rarely get very engaged about matters.
I enjoyed this collection. There was plenty of humour contained within the various verses collected, and a great deal of it aimed at himself. There was also a lot of sensitive writing.
As ever, I much prefer it when the verse does not contain profundities,. I rarely think this necessary or that it adds to the sentiments. Phrases like, 'A car clears its throat in the lane', I very much warm to. There's a great deal of that use of language in his verse, and I find myself deliberately reading it slowly, and re-reading lines, so that I can absorb the full meaning. Occasionally I am left perplexed at what is intended.
So here is a volume I recommend, poetry lover or not. It's great to dip into at any time
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February 11, 2023The second collection of poems that I have read cover to cover and it shares something with the last. The book is a compilation, or more accurately a 'best of' series of poems written by Simon Armitage. In this context there is a lack of through-line and connection between the poems, however the book does group poems from certain books together. This style creates a snippet into greater works, almost window shopping, but at the same time lacking depth.
Outside of the books structure the actual content, Armitage's poems, have an absorbing rhythm to them. This rhythm isn't contained in lines or stanzas but makes you read through borders that your eyes are telling your brain to stop at. Reading aloud with this rhythm is what actually makes it noticeable. Silently reading is far less active, as opposed to the dynamic nature of his writing.
When it comes to subject matter, Armitage relates poems to the world around him. A middle to lower class England that he translates to a point of relation to the world of the reader themselves.
Outside of the books structure the actual content, Armitage's poems, have an absorbing rhythm to them. This rhythm isn't contained in lines or stanzas but makes you read through borders that your eyes are telling your brain to stop at. Reading aloud with this rhythm is what actually makes it noticeable. Silently reading is far less active, as opposed to the dynamic nature of his writing.
When it comes to subject matter, Armitage relates poems to the world around him. A middle to lower class England that he translates to a point of relation to the world of the reader themselves.
September 26, 2020
This beautifully Selected Poem edition shows a cross-section of Simon Armitage's writings, poetic genres, and topics. Armitage shows this talent in describing feelings that most of us are not able to articulate. I greatly enjoyed the "It Ain’t What You Do It’s What It Does to You" (p. 11) and "Zoom!" (p. 23). He plays with different free forms that enriched my little pocket of poetry knowledge, such as: "*" (p. 112) and "Leaves on the Line" (p. 115). Possibly, next on my nightstand will be Homer's Odyssey (2006); a first taste was delivered in the poem "Odysseus" (p. 132). Overall, this collection, gives an excellent overview of the Armitage's oeuvre and one of the greatest contemporary poets of our times. Very much recommend this collection to all who want are seeking an introduction to the brilliant Simin Armitage.
July 24, 2019
This book is best read with a pencil. Firstly to underline phrases to steal in your own poetry, secondly to mark those which you will share at your book club, and thirdly to mark those poems which left you a bit confused or bedding more explanation.
The early poems left me a bit cold, the later ones resonated with me better. Poetry collections are somewhat of a buffet, and whilst there will be choice bits you go for and stuff your face with, other dishes might appeal less so, or disagree with your tummy later.
Not the fault of chef, or poet, just the way taste buds, or ears, respond.
I liked most of the poems in this book, and some I shall return to at a later date.
The early poems left me a bit cold, the later ones resonated with me better. Poetry collections are somewhat of a buffet, and whilst there will be choice bits you go for and stuff your face with, other dishes might appeal less so, or disagree with your tummy later.
Not the fault of chef, or poet, just the way taste buds, or ears, respond.
I liked most of the poems in this book, and some I shall return to at a later date.
July 28, 2020
While it took me a little while to get through this collection, and I didn't enjoy every single poem, the poems that stood out to me really stood out, and I thoroughly enjoyed them. Some of my favourites included: Paper Aeroplane, The Practical Way To Heaven, You're Beautiful, On Marsden Moor, and To His Lost Lover. I enjoyed the little shoutouts to the Northern way of life - the mention of Vimto and Poundland was far more amusing to me than it probably should've been. There were a few poems I thought missed the mark - to me, at least, as I'm sure they could've been other people's favourite - but overall I enjoyed reading it.
July 15, 2019
Read for school
I enjoyed this and liked how some of the poems evoked such a strong image of England (UK? Britain? Idek)
I guess I’m just not that experienced with reading poetry so I found some of them hard to read, in that I felt like I had to really dedicate time to dissect each line. I did enjoy that though, it made the reading experience more analytical and interesting.
Favourites were “The Stuff” and “Poem”.
I enjoyed this and liked how some of the poems evoked such a strong image of England (UK? Britain? Idek)
I guess I’m just not that experienced with reading poetry so I found some of them hard to read, in that I felt like I had to really dedicate time to dissect each line. I did enjoy that though, it made the reading experience more analytical and interesting.
Favourites were “The Stuff” and “Poem”.
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