Banjo Paterson

[abu nuwas]

I've a friend, a Black Country poet (Black Country is the name of the area near Birmingham where I am living - named for its industrial heritage) who writes reams of poetry like this. His work is usually to be found in the Black Country Bugle which is widely read - so, for your average man in the street, it is the only poetry they will ever hear once they've left school.

I agree on the comparison with Kipling, but at times, for me he veers into McGonagall.

Jill -- I admire your candour. But I think he (and Kipling, for the matter of that) do something really essential: they write stuff which is good, yet the ordinary bloke or blokess, can latch onto. This, of Kipling, for example (not spoken perhaps as Kipling intended) would have resonated with many people when service in the Armed Forces was quite the thing -- and when a Court-Martial might have drastic effects. Naturally, if you choose to do this, you run the risk of writing the odd crass or jarring line; but for me, the prize is well worth it.

I read reams of poetry which seems almost terrified of being comprehensible, and it does not surprise me that the population is turned off. It turns me off.

This is Kipling's 'Danny Deever' (until removed by someone).

http://content.loudlit.org/audio/deever/...deever.htm


PS I thought the Black Country had to do with the earth?